A relaxed Tortorella

John Tortorella presented a much more laid-back, non-confrontational persona during this morning's presser, no doubt because that's the sense he wants to pass along to his players. They can't be tight in this spot, they need to be loose and just play hockey.

There are few guys on this roster who have played in a Game 7 at the NHL level - Aaron Voros recalled playing in one in juniors. Scott Gomez has. Chris Drury has. Wade Redden has. That's what I've got so far but if I've missed anybody else, it's not an extensive list, maybe Markus Naslund and Michal Rozsival. I'll try to do some research.

"Game 7s you can get yourself so wrapped up and say, 'Oh, crap, this is Game 7!" Tortorella said. "And you go out and get paralyzed. Where it is a game of mistakes and both teams are going to make them. You need to allow yourself to play in this situation and not paralyze yourself. Some guys can do it and some guys can't. Some guys get so uptight they do paralyze themselves and they're not going to be a factor in the game. Other guys look at this as an opportunity and allow themselves to play and just free themselves."

The trick for Tortorella will be determining, really quickly, which players he can count on tonight.

"I think we'll have a pretty good idea, yeah," Tortorella said. "We want to win a game. We have to hopefully make the right decisions as far as who is going and we're going to go with those guys who we feel we have a chance with. We don't have much time left here. We have 60 minutes. Everybody is going to get an opportunity early on here and we're going to make the decisions from there."

For instance, yesterday I had a good chat with Marc Staal about playing in Game 7 and that knot that develops in the stomach. Staal said he couldn't wait, that he was up for the challenge and thrilled to get it.

"Innocence is a great thing," Tortorella said when I relayed that. "It is. I was fortunate to be involved with it (in Tampa Bay) and we didn't have a clue what we were doing. Because we didn't have the clue about the pressure. And that's what I hope helps our team here. I don't think our team feels the pressure. We've got some young guys that haven't been involved in these types of situations."

For instance, Nikolai Zherdev, who is playing poorly in his first playoffs, scoreless and a minus-3 with a bad turnover and missed open net that contributed to the Rangers 5-3 loss in Game 6.

"He's going to get an opportunity," Tortorella said of Zherdev possibly redeeming himself tonight. "I thought at times in Game 6 he was on the cusp of bringing some offense. And he turns one over early in the game that costs us right away. I hope he's beginning to learn what intensity you need. Has he stepped up? No. Tonight's a great opportunity. As we talked about, we wipe it clean. Games 1 through 6 mean nothing now."

I had asked Tortorella whether he believed, across the board, everyone in his dressing room believed they could win tonight. He started out by saying yes and, by the end of his answer, it had become a we'll find out.

"Oh yeah, yes I do," Tortorella said. "These guys have been rundown pretty good all year long but that is part of what it is being a player, handling those situations. Do they care? Absolutely. As we go through an experience like this in a Game 7, there are levels of care. This is going to be a great experience for me in coaching this team in a first Game 7, to see, in this type of situation, with some of the things that have gone on in this series and all the stuff going on around them, how guys handle it. As the coach of the team, I'm looking short term. We want to win this game but I'm always looking into a long-term perspective, too, into what we have here as a group of people. I think we have got good people but I always believe that people can care and then people can really care. We'll find out as they go through but I hope all 20 of them really care. Those are the things I look at as we continue to grow."

Finally, for this post, Tortorella said, in some ways, Game 7 is the easiest.

"We've blown a 3-1 lead in this series and we've had some things going on around the team but we need to wipe it clean," Tortorella said. "And, to me, it's easy at a Game 7 because it's final. It's the final game of the series and I think it's a mindset that you can clear your head and play one game, just one game, and try to find your way."

Comments

[ntb]

Andrew,

Here is what I found, but you may want to double-check:

Antropov
- 2004 Tor (W) vs. Ott (Rd. 1)
Naslund
- 2003 Van (W) vs. St. L (Rd. 1)
- 2003 Van (L) vs. Minn (Rd. 2)
- 2004 Van (L) vs. Cal. (Rd. 1)
- 2007 Van (W) vs. Dal (Rd. 1)

[C]

I hope the Rangers win tonight. But if the Rangers lose, am I the only who is going to feel better if the Devils lose tonight?

[LI Joe]

Andrew - if the Rangers do their job as well as you are doing yours, they will be practicing for Boston either tomorrow or Thursday with start on the weekend?

this shows all the Rangers with game 7 experience

http://rangers.nhl.com/team/app/?service=page&page=NewsPage&articleid=420472

[Godwin]

Wow... Gomez's stats in Game 7 make me sick to my stomach. 5 games, 0 goals, 1 assist.

[JohnP]

What you mean with those stats he didn't deserve $7MM?

[Godwin]

mind-boggling, isn't it?

[LI Joe]

yes but Gomez only lost 1 time in game 7

so we just have to find a way to win this freakin game. we want to still be playing in May.

[Godwin]

I highly doubt the devils won all those game 7's because of gomez. I'm pretty sure guys named Brodeur, Stevens, Niedermayer, Rafalski, Gionta, Elias and Co. all had a say in it.

[LI Joe]

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=276720

re our future.

of course the devs didn't win because of gomez but he wasn't a 4th line slacker either. he had a say in things as well.

[Ian]

Re: The TSN article, I think they severely underrate Grachev. From what I have read about him, he seems to be a first line LW in the making. Also it seems that Del Zotto has a better future than Sanguinetti. It wouldnt surprise me if 2 of those 3 started the season with the Rangers next year. Seems like Torts loves the young guys.

[Godwin]

yet our brilliant gm thinks otherwise. why else would he waste $10.5 mm a year for the next 5 years on one average and one washed-up defensemen.

We need to start some sort of petition this summer to fire sather. win or lose tonight - i'm sick of him.

[Godwin]

and to those who thought that morris deal was a good one. Was it really? We sure could use Prucha and/or Dawes right now to replace Betts, Zherdev, or Voros.

And in my honest opinion... Morris has been OK (not great, but just ok). He was just as Kalinin.

And Antropov has disappeared since Game 1. He's notoriously known for disappearing at times..... what a time to disappear!!

[Stuart]

the prucha dawes trade was a rental regardless. it in the end got the rangers into the playoffs and will ahve basically no long term affect on the team either way.

BTW the death of Cherapnaov hurts the long term ranger situation a ton, he along with Anismov and maybe grachev would all be on the team next year.

huge loss..

[LI Joe]

godwin - trading prucha and dawes is a nonevent. out team is too small to begin with and prucha and dawes would only add to that. we could have also used bell. dawes was a healthy scratch by phoenix quite often.

[graves9]

Is Anisimov playing tonight? The idea that dreck like Voros would play over him is patiently ridiculous.

[Godwin]

I agree that the morris deal was a rental and there was a chance we wouldn't re-sign dawes and/or prucha. BUT... I would've loved to see prucha and/or dawes play under Tortorella. They had what? like 4 games with him until they got traded to Phoenix. It's tough to say but it seemed like Prucha was doing decent under Torts. Now we'll never know...

The Cherapanov loss is just plain sad. Sad for obvious reasons of how it all happened and could have easily been avoided. But from a Rangers standpoint... that's just pure bad luck.

[Sec67RowG]

Scratch Zherdev. Seriously. Voros is whatever, but not dressing Orr is idiotic. Throw him out first line and pull what the Ducks did last nite and have a fight right off the face-off (thornton-gelfatz).
Prucha discussions are pointless as he was never the same player after Umberger busted his knee in Philly and even less so once he got bounced from Jagr's line.
This team is in serious trouble with the high-end, untradeable salaries and an abundance of youth waiting in the wings. Sather has painted this franchise into a corner with little to know way out.
Of course Tortorella is relaxed--he's got a 4 year contract, two months ago this team was out of the playoffs and now he's got a Game 7. And he's only the second coach in NHL playoff history to be suspended. He's not going anywhere.
Rangers: 3-22 in playoff elimination games. 0-4 in Game 7's on the road. Never lost a series they've been up 3-1. if they score 2 goals they tie the franchise record for lowest playoff output in a seven game series (IF THEY SCORE TWO GOALS!!!). and that record is 70 years old. If the two teams combine for less than seven goals, it will be the lowest combined goals in franchise history in a seven game series. The lowest? Rangers-Devs, 1994 Conference Finals. This is not that series. This isn't even half that team.
Still....LET'S GO RANGERS!!!!