Wanted: Grit

Last night's game was a tough one to watch. It was an uninspired loss to a division rival. The Rangers lacked grit and scoring. Sound familiar? It should, because last night the same team that flew out of the gate in early October like it was being chased by wild, starving dogs looked much more like last year's team - the one that had no game-breaking superstar, struggled to put the puck in the net and seemed totally incapable of sending a message to opponents. They were dominated on both ends of the ice and didn't do anything to stop it.

Brashear was scratched. This has become pretty frequent, as he's been in and out of the line up constantly since his fight with Colton Orr two weeks ago. There was no one on the ice to protect the top level talent, and the Islanders capitalized. Sean Bergenheim sent Callahan flying backwards over the blue line as he tried to skate the puck in, then, on the same shift, knocked Vinny Prospal into next week along the boards. Later on, Bergenheim sent Ales Kotalik hurdling into the Ranger goal, where he narrowly missed demolishing Hank. John Sim boarded both Avery and Dubinksy (without getting whistled for it), and Nate Thompson was allowed to harass Hank for most of the night. Good teams extend accountability to opposing teams by making them answer the bell. Last night, that just didn't happen.

So where's the grit on this team? Brashear, the 1.4 million dollar bruiser, hardly plays. When he does play, he rarely fights, and when he fights, he doesn't win. Voros, though resilient and always willing to take his lumps, is not much of a deterrent to opposing players. Dubinsky used to drop the gloves on occassion, but rarely does anymore (can we still look forward to his yearly bout with Philadelphia captain/noted headhunter Mike Richards?). Callahan now channels his aggression into his hits. None of the six defenseman are particularly inclined to scrap. Brian Boyle, despite his size, is apparently not a fighter. The only notable bout in the last few games has been Avery's fight with Mike Mottau against New Jersey.

That's not to say that the Rangers should fight in every single game, or that our marquee players should be wasting their ice time dropping the gloves. As Brian Burke and his truculent Leafs have demonstrated this year, fighting majors do not always tranlate into wins. But the Rangers need to take care of their own. Vinny Prospal should not have to go after Bergenheim himself, as he did last night. And more importantly, Hank cannot keep getting run. Other teams, including the Islanders, don't hesitate to take liberties in front of the Ranger goal or even to run Hank into the backboards.

Part of the problem, it seems, is that with the exception of Gaborik and Prospal, the Ranger players are being kept on too short a leash. Many of the more gritty forwards, especially Avery, are much more inhibited on the ice than they ever have been before, probably because they're certain that stepping over the line Torts had drawn will result in decreased ice time. Torts is a tough coach who will bench (non-veteran) players. But it's beginning to look like his iron will is sucking the grit right out of the team. There's running a tight ship, and there's being a hardass for the sake of it. It's the difference between demanding hard, responsible play and intimidating your own team to the point where their play is hesitant and robotic.

If Brashear is going to sit, Tortorella needs to let Avery wreak his unique brand of havoc on the ice. Avery is a game breaker in his own spiteful way, a world-class pest. Let him play like one. And least once in a while, Torts needs to let guys like Callahan and even Dubinksy play like the second line players that both of them are - guys who skate hard and play solid offense, but have the go-ahead from behind the bench to take opposing players to task when they step out of line. Players who fight sometimes can also be players who score often (see Shanahan, Brendan).