John Tortorella is Back

On Tuesday morning the John Tortorella era officially began in New York when he conducted his first practice since taking over approximately 24 hours ago from the fired Tom Renney. Wanting to instill some much needed confidence into this fragile squad who have lost 10 of their past 12 games (2-7-3), Tortorella knows that time is an essence with the playoffs not that far away. “I just want them to relax a bit here,” said Tortorella who has an impressive 239-222-36-38 coaching record spanning over 6.5 seasons with the Tampa Bay Lightning. “My biggest question is how much do we give them in a short period of time. There are 20 plus games left and I don’t want to confuse them anymore.” Tortorella who has that reputation for being a tough as nails coach preached that the immediate goal is for the team to gain that much needed self confidence. After losing to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Sunday, the Rangers occupied fifth spot in the Eastern Conference and are in no ways a shoe in to make the playoffs. Knowing he had no choice, general manager Glen Sather made the coaching move on Monday and now the players know it’s their turn to step it up. “New coach, new guy and a new style,” said Rangers forward Scott Gomez. “We’ve got to wake up. “It’s going to be different and we’ve got to adjust.” Currently the Rangers are 31-23-7.

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