Episode two of HBO 24/7 Road to the Winter Classic debuted last night, and it included many awesome moments.

One of the moments that stuck out to me (but likely not many others) was when John Tortorella praised the play of Michael Del Zotto.

Del Zotto had a very rough season in 2010, and has bounced back in a huge way this season. The argument can be made that without Del Zotto the Rangers would be in a heap of trouble this season. (Same for Ryan McDonagh and Dan Girardi to a larger extent)

Meanwhile, Chris Botta writes about how Del Zotto's resurgence has a lot to do with Brad Richards.

"Ultimately, a player has to fix his own game with the coaches when things go as badly as they did last season," Del Zotto said after a recent practice. "But Richie’s support at the rink and away from it has made a huge difference."

It's nice to see Del Zotto improving, and also is nice to see Del Zotto admitting that his 2010 season was a disaster.