SAN JOSE, Calif. — There’s been a push and pull all year and it hasn’t worked.
John Tortorella, Rangers coach, has publicly (and assuredly more pointedly behind closed doors) attempted to prod Marian Gaborik into becoming a card-carrying member of the Black-and-Blueshirts’ shot-blocking wall-battlers.
And here he is, this world-class scorer, not only sitting on the essentially unbelievable total of 18 goals in 49 games, but also having scored even more unbelievably in 11 games all year.
And there Gaborik has been on the fourth line in his first two games back after a six-game, concussion-induced absence, an afterthought at even strength while Tortorella has remained married to three other line combinations he prefers to send out in any number of situations even though the Rangers haven’t fared especially well with these alignments.
Skating with Sean Avery and Vinny Prospal on Sunday, Gaborik played 14:28 in the 7-0 rout of the Flyers. Wednesday in Anaheim, as the Blueshirts trailed 3-1 through two periods en route to a 5-2 spanking, Gaborik played only 14:48 overall and just 8:43 through the first 40 minutes.
“Obviously I want to play more, but Sunday we were rolling lines in the big win, and [Wednesday] night . . . I don’t know,” Gaborik, who scored a third-period PPG against the Ducks, said following yesterday’s intense practice in preparation for tomorrow night’s match against the Sharks. “I can’t worry about the ice time, though, I just have to play my best.”
Everyone recognizes that the Rangers’ relentless work ethic carried them through the first four months of the season when opponents perhaps more skilled failed to match their commitment. Everyone admires the way this group of athletes sacrificed their bodies night after night after night.
Darn right, You’ve Got to Have Heart, and the Rangers have miles and miles of it, but even the Washington Senators of “Damn Yankees” needed the splendiferous and fictitious Joe Hardy to win them a pennant.
We’re not suggesting that Tortorella is a Mr. Applegate, but the coach has to be willing to give Gaborik not only the minutes he needs to thrive, but the support he needs to play his
game, the one he played last year when he scored 42 goals, and not Brandon Prust’s game or Brandon Dubinsky’s game.
Wednesday morning, even in praising Gaborik’s performance against the Flyers, Tortorella made a reference to “grinding.” There were no such references last year when Gaborik finished fifth in the league in goal scoring.
We get it. Gaborik has the same responsibility to compete as every one of his teammates. But we can tell you that dynastic Islanders’ coach Al Arbour never once called for Mike Bossy to be a grinder in the mold of teammates Clark Gillies, John Tonelli, Bob Nystrom and Duane Sutter. Are you kidding?
Gaborik hasn’t made so much as a single excuse through this miserable season in which he suffered a separated shoulder in the first week of the season. Michael Del Zotto, who delivered a series of home-run passes to spring Gaborik last season, crashed and burned. The Rangers haven’t had a steady complementary center for him all year.
“Obviously it’s been a tough year, but I can’t worry about what happened before,” Gaborik said. “The only thing that matters now is that I perform like I can and get this team to the playoffs.
“That’s the bottom line.”
Gaborik wasn’t referring to the fourth line, but if that’s where his unit remains in Tortorella’s pecking order these final 13 games, a trip to the playoffs is in grave danger.