On Thursday afternoon, Rangers head coach John Tortorella took part in a conference call with reporters. Here is a complete transcript of that call.

Question: John, can you just look back to yesterday’s game and tell me some of the positives yo…

Dozens of lucky Rangers fans will be flying high Saturday — even before the Blueshirts take on the New Jersey Devils in game three of their playoff showdown.

John Tortorella gave several one-word answers after his team’s disappointing 3-2 loss in Game 2 to the Devils on Wednesday night, so his postgame press conference lasted just 1:17.   But on his team’s off-day on Thursday, the Rangers coach spoke for 13 minutes in an afternoon conference call …

John Tortorella:  

Click the headline to the full post

The same Devils team that generated great chances in Game 1 but couldn’t get them past Henrik Lundqvist returned to the Garden for Game 2 on Wednesday night, and this time they didn’t waste their stretches of offensive-zone dominance.   So now the Eastern Conference finals are tied, 1-1, and …

David Clarkson is approaching Devils’ postseason immortality, as last night he scored his third game-winner in these playoffs, beating the Rangers 3-2 in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Final at Madison Square Garden.
Clarkson is now one goal short of matching the franchise’s postseason record of four game-winners…

Power plays can be fickle things. Sometimes a team can do everything right and fail to score. Other times, a team can struggle to get its power play going, only to see the puck find its way into the back of the net.
The latter was the case last night…

The Devils were frantic, urgent. The Rangers were visibly fatigued, finally. John Tortorella has told us, time and again, that his players are tireless supermen who never show any signs of fatigue, regardless of the physical demands from a wearying pair of seven-game series. But then the Rangers came out Wednesday night at the Garden with heavy legs and light heads, lost Game 2, 3-2.

It must have been coincidence. The game after Martin Brodeur suggested Rangers might get hurt blocking shots, the Rangers blocked 38 percent fewer and the Devils started scoring goals by deflecting the unblocked ones.
Call it coincidence, but the Devils triumphed, squaring the Eastern Conference Final while taking home-ice advantage…

This was a stinker, nothing other than that from a Rangers’ team that was outworked for perhaps 45 of the 60 minutes it took for the Devils to even the Eastern Conference Final with last night’s 3-2 Game 2 victory at Madison Square Garden.
This was a deficient display…