It’s a process on the power play with Derek Stepan, who didn’t play the point at Wisconsin but is now playing the right point for the Rangers not yet halfway through his rookie NHL season.
Yesterday, in his third game at the back, Stepan was victimized when Marian Gaborik’s pass from corner jumped over his stick at the point and sent Chris Kelly in for a shorthanded goal that opened the scoring at 4:27 of the second period in what became Ottawa’s 3-1 victory at the Garden.
The goal, though, could not be blamed on Stepan, as he, coach John Tortorella and Gaborik unanimously testified following the defeat.
“The puck was a little bouncy; I couldn’t handle it, and then it was off to the races,” Stepan said. “I did my best to handle it, I tried to settle it down, but it was a tough play.
“I don’t think it was so much a mistake as just a bad bounce of the puck. I don’t look at it as ‘my bad.’ ”
While Gaborik admitted he had to make a better play, Tortorella was impassioned in his support for Stepan and his ability on the point, where he seems to at least temporarily have supplanted Michael Del Zotto on the first unit.
Stepan had 5:37 of power-play time while Del Zotto got 0:54. Marc Staal also got increased time on the PP amounting to 5:37 as the Blueshirts went 0-for-4 and manufactured just three shots on net, all of them in their final try.
“Don’t blame Step for that goal; it was an awful play by Gabby on the pass,” Tortorella said. “Actually I thought he quarterbacked [the power play] quite well. If there were problems, let’s not isolate Step.
“It’s a process with him, but we weren’t as bad as the oh-fer.”
Stepan, who does not have a gun from the point, freely admits to being a pass-first QB.
“It’s not that I’ll avoid the shot, if it’s there I know I have to take it, but my strength is opening up lanes and making plays for the other guys to shoot,” Stepan said. “I’m trying to set guys up.
“I think that’s why they have me out there.”
*
Tortorella opened by uniting Marc Staal
with Dan Girardi
and matching the pair against the Jason Spezza-Daniel Alfredsson-Bobby Butler
unit, before making a switch midway through the first and going back to his more customary Staal-Michal Rozsival
and Girardi-Michael Del Zotto
units.
The coach had Staal and Rozsival on against Spezza most of the night.
The Rangers also opened by matching the Sean Avery-Erik Christensen-
Gaborik unit against Spezza, but switched and gave that assignment to the Ruslan Fedotenko-Brian Boyle-Brandon Prust
line. The Christensen line was thereafter matched against the Jarkko Ruutu-Chris Kelly-Chris Neill
unit.
The Christensen line plus the Steve Eminger-Michael Sauer
defense pair was on for Kelly’s winner at 17:36 of the third.
“That line is on with two minutes to go, they have to defend,” said Tortorella. “It’s the whole group. There was absolutely blown coverage. I’m not going to dissect it. It was the whole group, not one person.”
Alex Frolov
got just nine shifts worth 8:27, the fourth time in the last six games he’s played under 10:00. Derek Boogaard
played six shifts for 3:53 as Tortorella said again he’s not sure exactly where No. 94 fits.
The Rangers are off until Thursday, when they’re in Ottawa for the first of three games in four days, that one followed by Saturday in Columbus and the next night at home against the Caps.