December 25, 2010, HockeyPrimeTime.com NHL Atlantic Division Notebook examining how the New York Rangers will fare without Ryan Callahan

Rangers' season will be defined sans Cally

Atlantic

Written by Denis Gorman

Friday, December 24, 2010 21:27

The Rangers miss Ryan Callahan and, given his value to the team, that probably isn't going to change. They can only hope to miss him a little less by continuing to win for the next four to six weeks. John Tortorella alternated between pride and concern late Thursday afternoon. His New York Rangers had just beaten Pittsburgh 4-1 in their barn less than 24 hours earlier, ending the Penguins' winning streak at an NHL-best 12 straight. Three nights earlier against the explosive Capitals, the Rangers notched another noteworthy and praiseworthy effort in a 7-0 win at Madison Square Garden. AROUND THE ATLANTIC The Rangers came home to face the Phoenix Coyotes having won all eight games on the second of back-to-back nights. That was irrelevant at the moment; more concerning was whether Tortorella's club had the maturity to find and sustain the efforts displayed against Washington and Pittsburgh without alternate captain Ryan Callahan? The first question was answered with a 4-3 shootout win over the Coyotes. Trailing 3-1 late in the second, the Rangers' Brandon Prust stole the puck from Jason LaBarbera behind the goal line, slipped between him and defenseman Derek Morris, and backhanded the puck under the goaltender to halve the deficit with 5.1 seconds remaining. Derek Stepan’s rebound one-timer of a Chris Drury shot late in the third tied the game, which Erik Christensen won with a wicked laser in the shootout. How the Rangers continue to respond without Callahan will be a fascinating study. Tortorella gave an estimated timetable of six to eight weeks for Callahan, who broke his left hand when it was struck by a shot Dec. 15 in Pittsburgh. The organization called up Dale Weise from AHL Connecticut before last Saturday’s 4-1 loss in Philadelphia. Weise acquitted himself well in 6:53 of ice time: He had a goal disallowed in controversial fashion and fought Daniel Carcillo. After the loss Weise was sent down and the organization announced Wednesday that it called up Mats Zuccarello-Aasen from Connecticut for Thursday’s match against the potent Tampa Bay Lightning. Zuccarello played just under 18 minutes in a 4-3 shootout loss. “Every minute,” Tortorella said recently when asked if there was a point when he missed Callahan’s presence on the ice. “He’s just such a huge part of our team in offensive situations, defensive situations, trying to crawl back into it, power play, penalty kill. Cally is who he is. He’s a huge part of our club. But we have to overcome that. "We’re finding ways to do it. We just have to figure it out and try to find ways to win games until he gets healthy.” By any quantitative measure, it's almost impossible to overstate the difficulty of replacing Callahan. He is third on the team in goal and assists with 10 and 13, respectively. His 23 points are second most, while his 128 hits rank second in the NHL behind only Minnesota’s Cal Clutterbuck. Callahan’s 40 blocked shots are sixth-most on a team that ranks third in the league in that category. He averages 19:09 of ice time a game, including 2:26 on the penalty kill and 3:12 with the man advantage. Factor in that the Rangers are seventh in the East – eight points behind top-seeded Pittsburgh and eight ahead of ninth-place Carolina – and it’s fair to believe that the next month-and-a-half-to-two-months will define the season. The first three months have been a grad-school level thesis in the benefits of unity and a collective mindset. As HPT.com examined in early November, the root cause for the Rangers' success has been their work ethic. But, as noted here last week about the Islanders, hard work can only take a team so far in the NHL. At some point, talent trumps effort. The Rangers have some talent that has meshed with the organization’s grinders to author what has been a pleasant surprise of a season on Broadway and 33rd Street. Henrik Lundqvist is a top-10 goaltender in the world. Marc Staal is putting together a season that could see him and brother Eric share the ice at All-Star Weekend. Brandon Dubinsky is on pace for a career high in goals, while Brian Boyle has already surpassed his career high in that category. Marian Gaborik is a world-class wing and veteran center Vinny Prospal possesses an enviable skill game when he returns in mid-January. Still, how can the coaches balance his team’s hard working mindset against, specifically, Gaborik’s and Prospal’s abilities? Tortorella explained to HPT.com before the shootout win over Phoenix his thought process on that matter. “The important thing for us right now is getting Gabby going more consistently, offensively. But also have him join in with us in how we’re playing. Same thing will happen with Vinny Prospal. They have to join in with us a little bit in (the grinding) aspect of the game,” Tortorella said. “I don’t think it’s a hard sell. Those two guys, they understand it. Don’t get me wrong. It’s not to have Gabby dump the puck in and rotating out of corners and throwing it back. We want him to be who he is as far as the creativity and the skill that he brings. "But there are certain times in the game (when) he needs to join in as far as the battles on the wall; not getting stubborn coming across the line when it's two minutes left in a game and it’s a three-on-three across. Instead of trying to deke someone, chip it in and forecheck. It’s all part of our concept. Everyone needs to buy into that. But it’s not trying to turn him into a checker. We want to allow him to express himself but also understand where the foundation of our success is coming from. It’s not a hard sell. With those two guys, as I’ve always said, they’re engaged. They’re good people. I don’t think it’s a hard sell.” Notes Sidney Crosby extended his point streak to 23 straight games on Thursday in a 3-2 shootout win over the Washington Capitals. ... Evgeni Malkin had a five-point night (two goals and three assists) in the Penguins’ 6-1 rout of the Phoenix Coyotes at CONSOL Energy Center on Monday night. “For Sidney Crosby to shake his head a little bit and say ‘wow’ is a unique thing,” Penguins coach Dan Bylsma told reporters after the game. … Philadelphia followed an impressive 4-1 win over the Rangers on Saturday at the Wells Fargo Center by being thoroughly non-competitive in a 5-0 home loss to Florida. “I think it would be impossible to isolate anyone. I don't think our team performed very well. Our group needs to be better and we've been better. We've had a good run to this point, but we didn't play at our best or at the level that we need to, and Florida came in and they outworked us,” head coach Peter Laviolette told the Philadelphia Daily News. “I'm not sure getting shut out in your building is such a good thing. I'm failing to see the silver lining.” … Martin Brodeur told The Record of Hackensack after the Devils’ nationally televised 5-1 loss to Washington that “We got outplayed again, outworked. It’s not the big guns that beat us tonight. It’s the grinders, the guys that play the game hard. That says a lot about the way we played in that their hard-working guys are beating your hard-working guys.” The loss was the Devils’ third in as many games. They have been outscored 15-3 in the stretch. … The Islanders announced Tuesday that goaltender Rick DiPietro and defenseman Mike Mottau were placed on injured reserve. DiPietro is experiencing swelling in his surgically repaired right knee. Mottau will undergo hip surgery and is done for the season. Josh Bailey was called up from AHL Bridgeport on Wednesday. On Twitter: @HockeyPrimeTime and @DenisGorman Photos by Getty Images

Last Updated on Friday, December 24, 2010 22:47

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