Less than two weeks have passed, yet the Rangers’ seven-game winning streak seems like it happened centuries ago. They have lost four of their past five games, including Wednesday’s 3-1 loss to the Islanders, in which the Rangers had the energy of a narcoleptic on Nyquil.
“It’s not the X’s and O’s part of it. It’s the mental approach. That is my most frustrating thought after [Wednesday’s] game,” coach John Tortorella said. “That game was won by a team that played harder than another team, and that’s frustrating because that’s something that you can control. It’s a mental toughness that you need to develop. Have we gotten there? No.”
Defenseman Wade Redden said, “I think it starts with the mindset of just going out there willing to do those dirty jobs and at the end you’ll be rewarded. We need to compete hard and get into the game right away.”
Could fatigue have played a part in their lifeless effort?
“It has nothing to do with tiredness,” Tortorella said. “[The media] talk people into being tired. How many games have we played? 13? If they’re tired then we’re in deep [bleep] then. They’re not tired.”
The Rangers have a chance to rebound at Minnesota tonight, the start of a quirky stretch of schedule that has them hosting Boston on Sunday before playing three games in Western Canada next week.
Marian Gaborik, who spent eight years with the Wild, is likely to miss his second straight game after injuring his right leg in a collision in front of the net on Monday against Phoenix. The right winger expects to skate this morning for the first time since the injury and is day-to-day.
“It’s not that serious,” Gaborik said. “I thought it was gonna be worse, the way it felt. It doesn’t feel great, but it feels better. Obviously, it would be great [to play Minnesota], but I’m not gonna be stupid to go out there when I won’t be able to feel good.”
Gaborik leads the team with 10 goals and no one else on the Rangers has more than five, making his absence an opportunity for teammates to fill the scoring void.
“The guys understand that you can’t just sit there and say, ‘Let’s wait for Gabby to get back,’ ” Tortorella said. “You certainly won’t win enough games to get where you want to be with that kind of attitude.”
Chris Drury, who has five points, said, “When your best players aren’t playing, you gotta play harder. It’s no time to panic or say, ‘Woe is us,’ but you’ve just gotta play harder.”
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Sean Avery and Christopher Higgins missed yesterday’s practice. Tortorella said they were “banged up.” Their status for tonight’s game is unknown.