WASHINGTON - The Rangers applied pressure in the third period Wednesday night while trailing the Capitals, 3-1, but when Ryan Callahan appeared to have narrowed the deficit, replays showed he had kicked in the rebound of a Brad Richards shot from the point, and the goal was disallowed.
It was the right call, but it also pushed the Blueshirts power play to one-for-its last 16, and 0-for-8 in two games since the Christmas break.
Richards, one of the captains of that lifeless power play, registered four shots on goal in 19:32 of ice time, but he was a minus-three and committed that crucial turnover that led to Alexander Semin's goal to make it 3-1 in the second period. Not only that, but check out this stat: since Richards' fluky backhanded goal in the final second of a 3-2 win in Phoenix on Dec. 17, Richards has zero points. Five games, zero points.
Before John Tortorella gave his morning skate interview at the Verizon Center on Wednesday, he stopped in the hallway to talk to Richards, who was standing near one of the workout bikes with Ryan Callahan. Tortorella spoke to Richards for about 30 to 45 seconds, appearing to instruct him on strategy for the night's game. It was a constructive, back-and-forth conversation between a few of the team's leaders and veterans. But clearly, whatever message was delivered then did not sink in at game time.
The Blueshirts also have fallen into second place in the Eastern Conference, after Boston defeated Phoenix, 2-1, in a 9 p.m. start. The Bruins now have 49 points, one more than the Rangers.
The Blueshirts will practice at the Kettler Capitals Iceplex in Arlington, Va. on Thursday afternoon before flying to Fort Lauderdale for Friday's game in Sunrise, Fla. against the Panthers. In the meantime, here are the postgame quotes from Wednesday's 4-1 loss to the Caps:
RANGERS POSTGAME TRANSCRIPT ? JOHN TORTORELLA, RYAN McDONAGH, MARTIN BIRON, BRIAN BOYLE
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JOHN TORTORELLA
On whether he was disappointed with the defensive effort: ?I wouldn?t say it?s defensive. I?d say it?s some brain-dead plays at our blue line as far as turnovers. It?s unfortunate with Del Z, he loses the puck there on the first one. But a turnover by Mitch and turnover by Richie, not against their third or fourth line, against their top line. It kills us. That?s what?s frustrating. I thought we beat ourselves a little bit there in those situations. They?re an opportunistic team. They don?t want to defend. They want nothing to do with it. So what do we do. We don?t allow them to defend on those plays and they go score goals and they get rolling. That?s where they gained their momentum. So that?s what?s frustrating.
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RYAN McDONAGH
On what turned the momentum, whether it was lack of puck discipline: ?Yeah I think we definitely wanted some plays back in the second period there. They were coming with good speed. A couple times they catch us and they made us pay for it. We?ve had great goaltending and they can only do so much when you keep giving them breakaways and odd-man rushes, especially with this team they?re gonna score. We didn?t protect the puck as well as we wanted to, but I thought we kept with it in the third period and gave it a good effort there.?
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On whether allowing Caps get out on rush was the difference between this loss and the win in November: ?Yeah, that?s the thing. That team?s got a lot of talent and speed and they thrive on transition game. Tonight we didn?t get pucks in when we needed to or were trying to look for something prettier, caught out there in shifts, especially on the second it was a long chance. We got pinned in our zone a couple times, and they made us pay.?
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BRIAN BOYLE
On whether Rangers got away from their trademark forecheck/dump and chase: ?You want to be able to make plays. We want to grind them down, that?s what?s made us successful. We?ve done a pretty good job of that, but sometimes you make mistakes. This was a good team. They countered on us pretty good. But our main focus is we don?t want to give the puck away. You want to make them take it from us, putting it in good areas so we can get it back. It?s not like we didn?t do it at all tonight. We had some really good shifts. In the first period we did a pretty good job of that. But if you let them bring it like that, if it ends up turnovers and they score, we?ve got to come back and score, and we obviously didn?t. We had our chances. It?s frustrating.
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On not scoring on McDonagh?s rebound midway through the third period with a bouncing puck: ?Well sure it?s bouncing but I?ve got to put that in. We?re supposed to be NHL players and I should handle that. It?s tough. When I got back to the bench, I was pissed. Tried to come back and we got a couple more chances after that, but ??
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On earning time on the power play: ?Yeah, we?re just trying to play the same way. If we take care of the puck, we had a big responsibility tonight trying to stop that (Ovechkin) line. I turned one over in the D zone, we had a little mishap in the neutral zone, stuff like that. One mistake will kill you. But like I said, I had a chance to make a big play and it?s hard not to get frustrated. You want to stay positive. It?s been a while. It?s tough. I accept that. That?s a lot of responsibility and if I?m going to play these minutes, I want to score. I feel like I?m going to though. We kept coming and kept having shifts. I?m not saying my confidence is sky-high right now offensively, but I?m just trying to keep it positive and I should have buried that.?
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On earning more minutes even though he?s not scoring: ?When they?re not going in, you can?t give ?em up.?
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MARTIN BIRON
On what shifted the momentum: ?Obviously little things in the game will make a difference. We all know as a team what those little things were tonight. I?m sure the coaching staff knows. We?ve just got to have the attitude that the little bit of room that we gave their top line, we?ve just got to be careful in the next games, because those are big points and big guys that you?re playing against. You?ve got to be able to control the play against a line like that. So they were able to come back and get a couple good goals and that really made the difference in the second, when we couldn?t sustain the pressure that we had in the first period.?
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On his own performance: ?Right now, it?s extremely disappointing, knowing that we come in here and this was a big opportunity for us to get a couple points and we just needed to ? I don?t know. It?s just disappointing when you?re gonna chew on that for a little bit here. But tomorrow you?ve got to forget about it. And that?s probably the attitude you?ve got to have.?
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Have a question about the Blueshirts or a comment? Find Pat on Twitter at @NYDNRangers.
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