This was last Feb. 2 in Los Angeles, the day when Olli Jokinen and a throw-in named Brandon Prust joined the Blueshirts after being obtained late the previous night from Calgary.
A couple of hours before the Blueshirts met the Kings, Jokinen and Prust were introduced to the press. Prust was asked how he pronounced his name.
“Prust . . . like dust,” he said.
Now an essential Ranger, it’s, “Prust . . . like trust.”
There might not be a player coach John Tortorella trusts more than Prust, whose third shorthanded goal in the last 11 games brought the Rangers within 3-2 of the Coyotes at 19:54 of the second period in what would become a 4-3 shootout victory last night at the Garden.
“He is part of our core,” Tortorella said of Prust, an honest laborer who is as tough as they come. “He is not home grown from our minor league team, but he has grown into us.
“He has been killing penalties,” he said. “He will fight anybody. He is a big part of who we are. You look at Ryan Callahan, you look at Prust, that is who we are trying to be as a Ranger team. Little by little, we are creating an identity.”
Prust, who spent parts of three seasons with the Flames (and 11 games with the Coyotes late in 2008-09) had been a fourth-line plugger, getting about 7 minutes per match. Now he’s averaging 13:35 after last night’s career-high 18:17 of ice, displaying skill in addition to moxie.
“I’ve always had the potential,” Prust said. “I just needed the chance to show it. It’s more of a confidence thing.
“The more ice you get, the more you’re able to try plays,” he said. “Confidence is huge when you’re playing 15 minutes instead of three or four minutes. When you’re in that situation, you get to the red line and dump it in. The more you make plays, the more confidence you get.”
*****
With Phoenix goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov
too ill to suit up as Jason LaBarbera
‘s backup, the Coyotes signed 26-year-old Tom Fenton
to a one-day Amateur Try-Out. Fenton is a 26-year-old Ontario native who had played four years for American International College and is currently the director of game operations and community relations for Manhattanville College in Purchase.
The Coyotes first had wanted to dress goaltending coach and former NHL All-Star Sean Burke
, but decided against it after dialogue with the league.
“One-Day Amateur Try-Out Contracts aren’t available to pros or former pros,” deputy commissioner Bill Daly
wrote in an e-mail to The Post. “If they wanted to sign Burke they would have had to sign him to a full-year [contract] and he would have had to have been paid pursuant thereto. The club chose not to do that.”
*****
Derek Stepan
said he understood why he had been benched for the first 8:34 of the third period.
“Maybe my legs weren’t quite there,” Stepan, who banged a rebound for the tying goal at 14:17 after being reinstated. “I wasn’t making sharp decisions.
“Being smarter was the big thing,” he said. “Being on the bench, maybe it woke me up a little. I got dialed in.”
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Sean Avery
drew two penalties and went hard to the net to create traffic in front on Stepan’s trying goal in 8:12 of ice time, which was at least 4:00 less than every other forward other than Todd White. Maybe Avery, who got 7:37 and 7:43 in the previous two games, will even get 9:00 tomorrow afternoon in Philadelphia.
Erik Christensen
, 2-for-2 this year, is a career 20-for-37 in the shootout. Stepan, stopped on a wrist shot last night, is 0-for-2. Artem Anisimov
, who missed the net, is 0-for-1 this year and 0-for-3 for his career. . . . Martin Biron
, who did not allow a goal, is a career 9-14 during which he’s yielded 28 goals on 63 chances.
****
Prust’s shorthanded goal was the Rangers’ NHL-leading eighth of the year and fifth in the last 12 games. Rangers are 9-0 on second night of back-to-backs.