Not that Michael Del Zotto welcomed the flu he contracted last week that would have prevented him from playing against the Lightning on Thursday, but the defenseman admitted it was just as well he didn’t have to find out if he would have been scratched from that game, regardless of his health.
But Del Zotto, healthy and back at practice yesterday with his teammates following the NHL’s two-day Christmas moratorium, had no such luck (?) this time, as coach John Tortorella announced the 20-year-old sophomore would be scratched in favor of Matt Gilroy for tonight’s match at the Garden against the Islanders.
“Nothing is given to you on this team,” Del Zotto, previously a healthy scratch in Ottawa on Dec. 9, told The Post. “The coaches expect the most of you and if you’re not performing, consequences follow.
“The decision whether I’m in the lineup or not is out of my control. I’m just more disappointed in myself for putting myself in the position where it’s a question if I’m in or not.”
As Del Zotto will miss his second straight, Marian Gaborik is expected to return from the groin soreness that sidelined him from the 4-3 shootout defeat against Tampa Bay while Mats Zuccarello will be recalled from the AHL Whale to play his second straight.
Tortorella said he didn’t know whether Gaborik would skate on the first unit with Derek Stepan and Brandon Dubinsky or whether Zuccarello would remain on the line where he played on Thursday. Gaborik could play with Erik Christensen and Sean Avery (until they’re inevitably benched), but it seems a stretch to move the team’s most accomplished goal-scorer and lone game-breaker (again) in order to accommodate the rookie.
The coach said he’s giving Zuccarello another look because of the way he played against the Lightning, which is the same explanation he gave for sticking with Gilroy for a second straight rather than inserting Del Zotto.
“I thought Gilroy has been playing pretty well and was one of our better ones [against Tampa Bay],” Tortorella said. “So I’m going to go with the same [defense].”
The coach was asked whether that call was also intended to send a message to Del Zotto, who coughed up the puck behind his own net leading to a critical goal-against while going minus-three in Philadelphia on Dec. 18, his last game.
“He should get the message by being out as a coach’s decision,” Tortorella said. “I still think he’s going to be a really big part of our core, I know he’s going to be, but this isn’t really a negative on Michael, it’s just a process he has to go through.”
The issue with Del Zotto, who has had a minus rating in only one of his last 13 games and is even on the season, is a lack of patience and a tendency to force plays and passes that are not there. The sophomore’s work on the power play breakout and point has been uneven.
“You’re not going to be perfect every game, but you can’t keep making the same mistakes all the time and expect to play,” Del Zotto told The Post. “It’s not all fun and games in this league. It’s a business where not everything is going to go your way all the time.
“I’m taking it all in and learning. I still have a long way to go.”