A small, snow-affected crowd of 13,128 grew weary at Madison Square Garden as open shots sailed wide and pucks trickled over sticks. The fans’ impatience with the Rangers finally was quelled in the middle of the second period when an Olli Jokinen shot bounced off the boards and on to the stick of Vinny Prospal, who stuffed it in to tie the game with the Predators.
But the joy was short-lived in the Rangers’ 2-1 loss to the Predators last night.
Already playing without top goal-scorer Marian Gaborik, who was out with a deep laceration in his right thigh, the Rangers lost one of their best defenseman on a controversial penalty. With 7:26 left in the period, 19-year-old Michael Del Zotto drew a devastating four-minute penalty for hooking and unsportsmanlike conduct.
“I just didn’t agree with the call. I didn’t think I said anything too bad, but maybe I’ve just gotta learn to keep my mouth shut,” Del Zotto said of his rant to the referee. “I let my emotions get the best of me and I can’t let that happen.”
And coach John Tortorella let him know it when he got back to the bench.
“He had every reason to give it to me there and put me in my place. It’s a stupid penalty,” Del Zotto said. “You give them four minutes on the power play, you give any team in this league four minutes on the power play, more often than not they’re gonna make you pay the price.”
The penalty-kill fell 26 seconds short of success, when a Shea Weber slapshot, saved by Henrik Lundqvist, could not be cleared and was finished by Colin Wilson, for the game-winner.
Del Zotto sat out the rest of the period, but was back on the ice to start the third.
“He is learning a lot of lessons along the way,” Tortorella said. “But he certainly has been one of our better players throughout the year on the back end.”
“The way that goal looked, that’s how we feel the last couple [of] weeks,” Lundqvist said. “It bounced the wrong way, but at the same time, you earn your luck. You have to work hard and the breaks will come.”
The Rangers gave up the first goal in the first period off a deflection by Jordin Tootoo, but Lundqvist, who finished with 34 saves, kept the game within reach, stopping multiple one-on-ones, biding enough time until the Rangers got the 5-on-3 advantage where they scored their lone goal.
The Rangers had some great scoring chances and consistently attacked in the third period, finishing with 38 shots, but without their lone consistent goal-scorer, the Rangers couldn’t capitalize on those opportunities. The boos started coming down as hard as the snow, and it seemed like the Rangers would have had an easier time finding a blade of grass than they would finding the back of the net.
“Again, we generated some chances, but we don’t score,” Tortorella said. “I am tired of talking about chances. We need to score.”
“I see the chances we created in the end,” Lundqvist said. “It was just painful to watch to see how we’re not scoring. It’s just so close.”
⇒ Gaborik did not speak with reporters, but he was seen walking at the Garden with a severe limp. His status is day-to-day, making it unclear if he will play in either of the two games left before the Olympic break. . . . Last night’s game ended a sellout streak of 187 consecutive games, which started on Oct. 31, 2005.