BOSTON — There is no need to be a body-language expert or a master interpreter of literary symbolism to understand that Rangers’ coach John Tortorella has had just about enough of too-many-men-on-the-ice penalties.
In the Rangers’ 4-3 shootout win over the Bruins Tuesday night, Tortorella’s team took their league-leading sixth bench minor in the first 12 games. At the time when it happened early in the second period, it almost ripped the coach’s shirt from angry neck expansion, and later it also came close to flipping his mood in a postgame press conference that was mostly positive.
“Another too-many-men, huh?” he said. “No, I don’t want to expand on it. It [stinks], what do you want me to say. It’s stupid. It [stinks]. It’s brutal. I can use a lot of different things.”
Of their previous five too-many-men penalties, three of the ensuing power plays have ended up in the back of the Rangers’ net. This one they killed, as they kept the Bruins 0-for-4 over 6:42 of man-advantage time.
The Rangers’ penalty-kill hasn’t given up a goal in 11 chances over their three-game winning streak. They’re now 41-for-52 (78.8 percent) on the season.
* The experiment of sniper Marian Gaborik on the left side seems to be at least temporarily done.
For the second straight game, Gaborik lined up on his natural right side with Brad Richards in the middle and Taylor Pyatt on the left. He finished with a team-high four shots during 18:17 of ice time. Since the second game of the season, Gaborik had been on the left with Richards in the middle and Rick Nash on the right.
“Back on the right wing and I’m more comfortable on the right side,” Gaborik said after Monday’s practice. “Lines change here all the time. Might change again in a heartbeat.”
When that quote was reiterated to Tortorella Tuesday morning, he was accepting.
“If that’s what he feels, I believe him, he’s played there quite a bit,” Tortorella said. “Historically, Gabby has scored a lot of goals coming down the left side also, right now that’s where our lines are at. I think he handled himself very well when I had him on left wing.”
* Forward Brian Boyle was a healthy scratch for the third straight game after the 6-foot-7 center played the first nine games of the season.
“It’s not up to me who goes into the lineup, it’s up to them,” Tortorella said. “I like the way our guys played the last game, so I don’t necessarily look at it as urgency to get a guy in.”