Rangers News and Notes: Friday edition

Making the rounds this afternoon

Mark Herrmann is filling in for the Zipper on Blue Notes this afternoon, and has a few stats over the first four games:

Rangers are 25th on the PP, due to 0-for-9 start, but 3 for last 11. They are sixth on the PK at 85.7, plus a shortie....Goals per game? 3.5, eighth in the NHL....Lundqvist has a .917 GAA, which would be higher if not for the 90-foot oops....

Our friend Andrew Gross has a few more thoughts on the win last night:

I chatted briefly with Rozsival as he rode the stationary bike after the game and asked him if he was all right. He said the coach had just given him "a break."

Here’s how Tortorella described what happened.

"I think we’ve shown some resiliency at key times," he said. "I thought we were really good in the battles and that’s something we just want to try to stay consistent with. It’s so important to do those little things, when you don’t turn the puck over and it ends up in the back of the net. All those little details are what we have to be consistent with.

More after the jump....

I know alot of us don't often agree with Larry Brooks' assessments of the Rangers, but in his recap of last night's game, there were a couple of things that stood out for me:

Finally, after all these years during which ice time was assigned largely by the names on the players' backs and the numbers on their paychecks, accountability has a meaning as far as the Rangers are concerned.

Imagine. The head coach of the Rangers sitting a veteran -- and a veteran making $5 million, no less -- while following through on his pledge to give ice time to those who earn it.

If the mindset as exemplified by Ryan Callahan becomes contagious, the Blueshirts will be fine. The winger, who required treatment during the day after his back had seized up during the morning skate, was a wrecking crew unto himself during his 22:12.

That's about as positive as you will ever see Larry get about the Rangers.

Here are some thoughts from Rick Carpiniello at Rangers Report:

If John Tortorella really was Mike Keenan-esque, he’d be in Glen Sather’s office today telling him to get rid of Rozsival or I’ll just bury him. I don’t think Torterella is that way, though. Rozsival had a chance to wipe out Ovechkin at the first-period buzzer, instead went for the poke check and missed, and got lucky that the buzzer sounded with Ovechkin still with the puck and nobody between him and Lundqvist. I believe he also committed the gaffe that led to the first goal.

I said it the day it happened … I think the Kotalik signing was terrific, and very much the type of signing the Rangers rarely make while they throw money at bigger names. OK, maybe he still got too much (3 years, $9 million) but he’s a solid, solid multi-dimensional player.

Some of what the other Ranger blogs are saying, I apologize for not doing this more, but there are some other great blogs out there covering the Rangers, and here are some thoughts from a few of them:

Kotsy's Korner: This team is different!

The Dark Ranger: Team Tortorella Outlasts Team O-O-O-O-Ovechkin

The Ranger Pundit: Resilient Rangers Survive 3rd period lapses.