After
yesterday’s day off, the New York Rangers hit the practice ice today to work on
things in hopes of ending their current five-game winless streak. In a change of the normal reactions to a game
where the team fails to score consistently, coach John Tortorella is leaving
the forward lines exactly as they have been for the last two games. This move allows the lines to attempt to
build some chemistry together instead of having to figure out new people every game. The lines were:
Dubinsky-Anisimov-Callahan
Prospal-Christensen-Gaborik
Wolski-Stepan-Zuccarello
Avery-Boyle-Prust
After
a 45 minute normal practice the team left the ice for it to be resurfaced and then came out just to work on the power play which has cost them dearly of
late. The team worked with mainly two
units. Per Jesse Spector the units were as
follows:
Unit 1: Callahan-Prospal-Gaborik up front; Staal-Wolski on the points
Unit 2: Dubinsky-Anisimov-Zuccarello up front; Del Zotto-Stepan on the points
During the course of
the power play work there were also times where Erik Christensen filtered in
for Artem Anisimov. Also during the work
on the power play, Jesse Spector
passed along that John Tortorella was yelling for the team to shoot the puck
during the drill, and later confirmed
that it at Marian Gaborik whom he was scolding.
Following practice
the news on Drury came down as well as, per Andrew Gross,
John Tortorella confirming that Michael Del Zotto is staying with the team ‘for
now.’ The other line of the day
regarding Del Zotto was that he would not being going down “anytime soon,”
according to Arthur Staple. I still am not a fan of the mixed messages
that sends to the young player, as I wrote yesterday in telling
them to make a decision and stick with it, but at least on the surface it
seems to be for a decent amount of time.
The reason for Del
Zotto staying according to Tortorella was because he had seen some improvements
in his play, but that there are still concerns about him playing
nervously. I can certainly understand him
playing nervous hockey, when it seems every other game he is basically told in
the press, do something or we might send you down.
With Del Zotto remaining in the lineup, it is expected that
Eminger will continue to be a healthy scratch.
