Of the four teams remaining in the Stanley Cup playoffs, each one plays a distinctly defensive game. And Rangers coach John Tortorella has his ideas why.
“To me, I think they need to put the red line back in,” Tortorella said yesterday as his team prepares for Game 1 of its Eastern Conference final matchup against the Devils tonight at Madison Square Garden.
“Look at the puck possession teams,” Tortorella said, “they’re out.”
Coming out of the lockout in 2005, the NHL made it legal to make a two-line pass, meaning coming from out of one’s zone, behind the blue line, a pass could be made to a player beyond the center-ice line, the so-called red line. It was a pass that used to be illegal, immediately blowing the play dead.
The new rule was designed to open up the game, and if it did for a while, the way teams have adapted is by playing tighter in their own zone.
“Because it’s a game of ping-pong,” Tortorella said. “The game is a long pass, forecheck, defend. Another long pass, forecheck, defend.”
With a history of fines for criticizing the league, Tortorella then looked at the NHL representative in the room and added, “I better just leave it at that.”
* Ailing Devils coach Pete DeBoer yesterday left Prudential Center after practice before talking to the press, whom he addressed in a telephone hookup later.
“I just felt a little under the weather after practice. Nothing serious,” DeBoer said. “I stayed away out of concern for [reporters’] health and me spreading it to you. Last thing we need is you guys getting sick this time of year.
“So I’m fine, though. We’re good to go.”
* The book is shoot high on Henrik Lundqvist, but that takes time and space, and the Rangers try to allow neither.
“I think for us it’s going to be very important to create a lot of traffic in front of these guys, because it’s not a secret he plays butterfly style and he will go down every time,” Ilya Kovalchuk said. “I think he’s kind of similar with [Philly’s Ilya] Bryzgalov, those two guys. So I actually like to play against him. And it’s a great challenge to play against the best, and we’ll take the challenge any day.”
* Dainius Zubrus’ first playoff experience with the Devils was the five-game loss to the 2008 Rangers. In their first year under Brent Sutter, the Devils finished with 99 points, the Rangers with 97.
“That was awful,” Zubrus said. “That was my first year here, and it was so emotional.
“It wrecked that season, absolutely. For sure.”
In that series, the Devils lost all three games played in their new Newark arena.
“Never got a chance to get our fans into really cheering us on and being the extra man that we need sometimes because of the way we played in our own building that series,” Martin Brodeur said. “I think this year’s a lot different. We played Florida, the fans were great. We played Philly, a pretty close rival, and the Devils fans were unbelievable.
“We expect more of the same when we’re going to get to our building. And that’s going to help us be a little more consistent throughout the whole series here.”
The Devils are 4-1 in Newark in these playoffs, 4-3 on the road. The Rangers are 5-3 at Madison Square Garden, 3-3 elsewhere.
* Rangers forward Mats Zuccarello (fractured wrist) skated again with the team at an optional practice yesterday, but is still more than a week away from possibly being available.