Regarding recent defensive diligence (or the lack thereof) from Marian Gaborik, the elite goal-scorer who has gone minus-four in the Blueshirts’ current three-game (0-2-1) losing streak:
“Fair; fair,” was the way John Tortorella responded yesterday when the head coach was asked for his evaluation of Gaborik’s play on the defensive side of the puck.
“It’s a process with him. You have to be careful with creative guys to be able to tell the difference between cheating and anticipation. You have to be really careful not to take away what makes them who they are,” Tortorella said.
Gaborik, dangerous whenever he’s on the ice, has scored eight goals, one off the NHL lead through Saturday shared by Alex Ovechkin, Ilya Kovalchuk and Patrick Marleau. The right wing has scored in two straight games, including Saturday’s outrageously nifty breakaway goal in Montreal against Jaroslav Halak.
But Gaborik also was cited doing a fair amount of neutral-zone hanging in the 5-4 overtime defeat. Plus, he seemed somewhat deficient on Mike Cammalleri’s game-winner.
“There’s a fine line you go through,” said Tortorella. “There’s anticipation, there’s cheating and laziness, and there’s hoping [for the puck to come to him].
“It’s an ongoing thing with the creative guys. You allow for anticipation, but let’s not hope. We have to bring him back a little bit.”
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Brandon Dubinsky has recorded four points (1-3) in the last nine games after getting four (2-2) in the opening two games.
“I’ve got to be better forechecking, getting the puck and having the puck,” said the center, who skated between Aaron Voros and Ryan Callahan at yesterday’s practice. “I’ve got to grind it out.
“I’m not a guy who is going to dipsy-doodle. Well, I guess except for last night and look what happened.”
What happened, of course, was the second-period neutral-zone turnover that led to his benching.
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Dan Girardi has gone minus-six in the last three games, somehow on the ice for eight of the 13 even-strength goals the Blueshirts have surrendered in their slide. But the first-pair, matchup defenseman is not second-guessing himself.
“Sometimes you are on and you know you’ve made the mistake, but sometimes things just happen when you’re on the ice, and that’s how I feel about the last few games,” Girardi, who has an overall even rating, said. “At the beginning, I was on for a lot of goals for, and now it’s going the other way.
“You know that during the season you’re going to have your ups and downs. What’s important is how you control those down times. I’m trying to play good defense. I haven’t lost confidence in myself and I don’t think [the coaching staff] has lost confidence in me.”
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Ahead 4-2 and seemingly in control past the midway mark of Saturday’s second period, Vinny Prospal took an elbowing penalty. That was followed 25 seconds later by the Chris Higgins’ high stick that gave the Canadiens a 5-on-3 power play on which they scored.
Tortorella made it clear Saturday what he felt about the Higgins’ foul. Yesterday, the coach did the same in addressing the Prospal indiscretion.
“A bad, selfish penalty,” he called it.