Nothing’s Changed
New York,N.Y. – A change behind the bench hasn’t resulted in an offensive surge for the New York Rangers. It hasn’t resulted in any wins, either.
The Rangers will try once again to rediscover their scoring punch and give new coach John Tortorella his first win Saturday night when they face the Colorado Avalanche, who will try to extend their winning streak over New York to eight.
Oddsmakers from Online Sportsbook Sportsbook.com have made the Rangers –155 money line favorites for Wednesday’s game against the Avalanche. Current NHL Public Betting Information shows that 52% of more than 174 bets for this game have been placed on the Rangers -155.
Tortorella, who took over Monday for the fired Tom Renney, saw his new team give up a late goal and fall 2-1 in a shootout to Toronto on Wednesday. In Tortorella’s home debut the next night, the Rangers’ Henrik Lundqvist permitted goals 60 seconds apart with less than nine minutes remaining en route to a 2-1 loss to Florida.
"As a team," Lundqvist told the Rangers’ official Web site, "we have to be perfect now. When you’re not scoring, you have to be perfect. It’s not only for me, but for the whole team. We feel like every mistake can cost us the game – which it has."
The loss to the Panthers dropped New York to 2-8-4 in its last 14. The Rangers (31-24-8) have scored only 22 goals in that span, and have scored two goals or fewer in all 12 losses.
"You can’t hate your guys because they are struggling," Tortorella said. "It’s easy to love them when it’s going well and then hate them when it’s going bad. I am not upset with them. … We are just struggling to score a goal."
The Rangers have had trouble scoring against Colorado for more than a decade. Since playing to a 2-all tie in January 1997, New York has scored only 10 goals en route to a 0-5-2 record in the series.
Markus Naslund scored his team-high 19th goal against the Panthers. The former Vancouver captain hasn’t scored a goal in 14 straight games against Colorado since Nov. 4, 2006, but with his next tally will have his 10th straight 20-goal season.
The Rangers, averaging 2.43 goals per game in 2008-09, remain one of four teams without a 20-goal scorer along with Minnesota, Edmonton and the New York Islanders.
New York opened the season with five straight wins, but is now tied with Florida for sixth in the Eastern Conference with 70 points, and the Panthers have a game in hand.
Madison Square Garden will be the fifth stop on a season-high six-game road trip for Colorado. The Avs’ swing through the New York metropolitan area began with a 4-0 loss to New Jersey on Thursday.
Colorado recorded 24 shots on goal, but couldn’t beat Martin Brodeur in his first game back from biceps surgery and became the four-time Vezina Trophy winner’s 99th shutout victim.
It was the Avs’ third straight loss and 11th in 16 games – a swoon that has dropped them into last place in the Western Conference with 20 contests remaining. Colorado (28-33-1) has recorded at least 95 points each season since moving from Quebec in 1995.
"Things are not going our way, definitely, pretty much the whole year," said forward Milan Hejduk. "We were eight points out of a playoff spot before tonight and it’s an uphill battle and it’s frustrating."
Hejduk leads the Avalanche with 23 goals, but has only four in his last 18 road games. He’s yet to find the back of the net in seven career games at MSG, though he has three assists there.
Colorado will wrap up its trip on Monday against the New York Islanders, the last-place team in the East.
Did you like this article? Subscribe to our Hockey news feed for the fastest updates delivered right to you – Click here to Subscribe
Posted: 2/28/09 12:00AM ET
