The Rangers have now fired three strikes at their goaltenders during practices this season, the first a Brian Boyle drive that hit Henrik Lundqvist in the neck on Nov. 3; the second a Derek Stepan two-on-one, one-timer that broke Martin Biron’s collarbone on Feb. 28, thus knocking the backup out of the remainder of the season; and the third a Marc Staal blast that hit Lundqvist in the mask during yesterday’s morning skate.
Nevertheless, coach John Tortorella last night repeated what he had previously said last week, that he had no intention of telling his players to keep their shots down against the club’s only indispensible athlete with just two weeks to go in the season and no healthy backup of pedigree in the organization. Indeed, when asked before last night’s 2-1 shootout loss at the Garden to the Senators if he would suggest to his players that they be careful, Tortorella said such a question was “disrespectful.”
“You show a tremendous amount of disrespect to the players when you ask that question,” Tortorella told The Post reporter who had posed the inquiry.
The coach is entitled to his opinion and his philosophy, but it would seem that his team’s shooters are being “disrespectful” to the club’s goaltenders by virtue of the way they consistently sling shots that go whizzing by — best-case scenario — the netminders’ heads.
Lundqvist, who has laughed off prior incidents, hardly was jovial after being knocked down by the Staal shot. The King, who played through a stiff neck the previous two games in the aftermath of Friday night’s goal-mouth collision precipitated by Montreal’s Benoit Pouliot, shouted angrily and whisked the puck back toward the blue line, where the team’s defensemen were lined up.
After leaving the net, Lundqvist conferred briefly with Tortorella before leaving the ice.
“I’m OK,” he told reporters in the locker room before quickly leaving his stall.
Staal, who returned to the lineup after missing two games with what is believed an aggravation of the left knee injury he first sustained on Feb. 22 in Carolina that originally sidelined him for three games, cited rust as an explanation for the shot that got away.
“He’s OK. He’s a little sensitive at times,” Staal said of Lundqvist, who made his 19th straight start, tying his career high. “It got away from me. That’s my excuse.
“He’s OK and that’s what matters.”
Lundqvist was OK in making 29 saves against the Senators and four stops on five chances in the shootout. The goaltender was beaten in the skills competition in the bottom of the fifth by his good friend, Erik Karlsson, with whom he skates and works out at home in Sweden over the summer.
“Usually he goes five-hole,” said Lundqvist, who has allowed only seven goals on 44 shootout attempts in going 6-3 in the competition. “This time he made a really good shot right over my [left] pad.”
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Staal played a game-high 29:34 in his return while paired with Dan Girardi. Staal, who skated on his own on Wednesday before joining the club for the morning skate, had not played since last Friday.
“I was a little sluggish,” Staal said. “But actually it was better than I thought it would be going in.”
Staal’s return bumped Matt Gilroy into street clothes, with Steve Eminger dressing for the fifth straight match after being healthy scratch in four of the previous five games and in 13 of the previous 18 following the All-Star break.
“[Gilroy] hasn’t been real bad, but I like the way [Eminger] has played underneath the hash marks and with his physical play,” Tortorella said before the match. “So he’ll go.”
Eminger, who had partnered with Girardi in Staal’s most recent absence, skated with Bryan McCabe last night.
Sean Avery was scratched for the fourth straight game and fifth of the past six matches.
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Vinny Prospal, regarding the team’s sluggish performance: “It was just us sleeping. I wouldn’t say it was a lack of effort. It was just a game we didn’t have the energy to generate anything. We try to play the way we are supposed to and didn’t do that. We were not as sharp as we usually are.”
Both clubs were 0-for-2 on power play, with the Rangers failing on a man advantage that began at 19:34 of the third and folded into a 4-on-3 for the first 1:34 of overtime.
The Rangers are 5-0-1 in their past six, 7-1-1 in the past nine and 11-6-1 in the past 18. They play their next four on the road at Boston, Buffalo, Long Island and Philadelphia before finishing the season with three games at the Garden the final week against the Bruins, Thrashers and Devils.
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The Rangers announced the signing of 20-year-old free-agent goaltender Jason Missiaen, who was selected by Montreal in the fourth round and116th overall in the 2008 Entry Draft. The 6-foot-8, 220-pound netminder (yes, 6-8, 220 pounds) had a 3.33 goals against average and .893 save percentage while going 10-33-7 (yes, 10-33-7) for QMJHL Baie-Comeau. Missiaen was drafted out of Peterborough of the OHL.