NEW YORK – The New York Rangers have survived two playoff rounds thus far. Both went the distance with the club winning close games to secure each series.
The Rangers have been variously described in the media and social networking sites but the most apt seems to be that they “give the other team hope, then rip it away”.
That personality is best seen in their head coach, John Tortorella who has little patience for the inane questions thrown his way during press conferences.
That was seen yesterday after the Rangers practice session where Tortorella answered the first five questions with one word responses or was curt to the extreme.
When Tortorella did become verbose it was in relation to his assessment of the Rangers organization and their need to develop as an elite organization in the NHL.
“Yeah. I don’t think we are. You guys can — I don’t think we are. I think we have a lot of things we need to go through to become that. Being an elite team is doing it consistently year after year after year. I like where we’re going, don’t get me wrong,’ Tortorella said. “ I’m not trying to put this in a negative vein. I like where we’ve gone this year, and I think we’ve taken steps in the right direction. But we still have quite a bit of growing to do as we continue in the organization here.”
New York’s bench boss is clearly focused on this year’s post season but he has a vision for the long-term for the entire organization, not just the on-ice team.
“Well, we have to learn as an organization, this is part of it. They should feel good about themselves, how they’ve handled themselves. But you’ve got to be really careful not to just feel this is what it is. This isn’t what it is; this is halfway,” Tortorella said. “And this is part of the growing that we need to go through, especially some of the younger guys, on how long this tournament is. So we’re just going to continue to do our thing and keep on playing.”
When asked about Henrik Lundqvist’s development as a goalie Tortorella was emphatic in his response.
“Well, like I said before, I think he’s still improving. I think he has improved tremendously mentally as far as the maturity, as far as how he goes about it, and again, I stay away from Ben (goaltending coach Benoit Allaire) and him, but he — I thought through last year, there were times in the middle of the year I didn’t think his game was dead on,” Tortorella commented. “I thought the last quarter of his season, and as he keeps on going right now to this day, I think he has improved, and I still think he will improve as a goalie because he’s beginning to get it mentally.”
But he also acknowledges the goalie’s long-term growth as an elite player in the league.
Photo by Lewis Bleiman
“For him to win another series is a step in the right direction, but that isn’t the end-all. That’s not the way we should be thinking about this, and that’s not the way he should be thinking about it, and I know he isn’t.”
Lundqvist was asked if he thought he could get better this off season and beyond.
“Absolutely. I mean, the day you say you can’t get better, I think it’s time to quit. You can always push yourself and improve your game, and you’re always going to learn things about yourself, about the game, and as a person I think the last few years I’m realizing how things work I think when it comes to being able to relax and get away from the game. When you’re younger, I think you tend to, at least for me, that was the case, I was really intense all the time, and it kind of drained me a little bit. But the last few years I’ve started to get a good feeling on and off the ice and find that balance.”
Asked if he relished the idea of playing the Devils beginning Monday night Lundqvist was clear in saying he was happy to be in the finals no matter which team it would have been on the other bench.
“I mean, there’s so many things that make this series special. First of all, it’s the Conference Final. That’s number one. It’s a great feeling to be there. We worked really hard to get there, so it’s really exciting,” Lunqvist said. “And then playing the Devils, we’ve faced them a lot, so we know what to expect. But it’s a special feeling, absolutely.”
“And then on top of that, playing against a guy, Marty Brodeur, there’s a lot of things that make this series a little bit special, I think. I think everybody is looking forward to it. I’m very excited about it, no question, and we’re going to do whatever we can here to beat them.”
The Eastern Conference Finals begin tonight at Madison Square Garden.
Contact LM.Davis@prohockeynews.com
Photo by Lewis.Bleiman@prohockeynews.com
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