Sunday afternoon, the New York Rangers didn’t even give it the old college try. After two periods, the Rangers trailed Washington 5-1 and were lucky it wasn’t 11-1.
Make no mistake, this was head coach John Tortorella’s fault. In fact, the Rangers’ collapse from a 3-1 series lead on Wednesday to a 3-3 tie heading to Washington on Tuesday is absolutely Tortorella’s fault.
Let’s go through the timeline:
1) On Wednesday night of last week, Tortorella was clearly upset with the craziness of Sean Avery, so even though the Rangers won 2-1, Tortorella benched Avery for Friday night’s game. The big-time coach was going to teach his nutbar a lesson.
2) So Avery doesn’t play on Friday and the Rangers get drilled 4-0. During the game, Tortorella gets into it with a fan and tosses a water bottle into the crowd. The league suspends Tortorella for one game. In other words, Tortorella does exactly what Avery does — acts like an idiot — only Tortorella gets his ass suspended.
3) Suspended, Tortorella makes a brain-dead move before Sunday’s game. After 190 consecutive appearances, Tortorella tells his tough guy, Colton Orr, to “sit this one out.” Without Orr in the lineup, the Caps can do whatever they want. And they do. Even Alexander Ovechkin starts pushing Rangers around. With no Orr, the Rangers have no heart or soul, fall behind 5-1 after 40 minutes and get whipped 5-3.
If the Rangers lose Tuesday night, Tortorella should not be invited back next season. He’s not only a hot-head, a guy just as crazy as Sean Avery, but he’s a lousy hockey coach who knows nothing of team chemistry and courage.