ESPN 2009 Stanley Cup Playoffs Blog

Posted by Pierre LeBrun

No one likes two off days between games in a playoff series, but for the New York Rangers, it has the added benefit of giving captain Chris Drury an extra day to rest.

"Yeah, hopefully we'll take advantage of it," Drury said Thursday after taking part in the Rangers' optional skate at Verizon Center.

Drury missed Game 1 with an undisclosed injury after also missing the team's regular-season finale last Sunday.

"Chris is day to day," said Rangers coach John Tortorella.

"Every day gets a little better," said Drury, who said he was close to playing Wednesday night.

"Yeah, I was preparing as if I was playing," he said. "I didn't want to get caught thinking the other way and end up playing. I'll just do the same thing again, get ready and see what happens."

Having the Rangers take Game 1 soothed his immense disappointment of missing a playoff game for the first time in his NHL career.

"Yeah, that helps out a lot, when you get to watch a win, especially on the road," said Drury. "It's a great time of year. I certainly don't want to be watching on TV in the coach's room, that's for sure."

Gabby stays positive
If you're going to be down in a playoff series, you are well served with Bruce Boudreau as your head coach. He'll keep things positive, just like he did Thursday.

"I was really surprised that the sun came up today," the Caps coach said today with a smile after his team's optional skate. "You know, the world is still fine. We know they're going to play better on Saturday. We know they're a really good team. But we also know what we're capable of playing. It's a loss in the loss column, but with seven minutes to go, it's a tie game. It's not like it was a 5-1 game and 'Geez, we were outclassed and we weren't ready.' We were ready and we did a lot of good things and we want to build on those good things."

Getting technical
Caps goalie Jose Theodore, victimized by three top-corner goals in Game 1, admitted today he needs to adjust his game a little after watching those goals on video.

"Well, I don't want to get into the technical part, but just being able to challenge more," he said. "I'm the kind of guy that I like to come out of my crease and challenge the shooters, and yesterday I thought I was a little passive. I wasn't challenging like I can."

The one goal that wasn't top corner was the first Rangers goal by Scott Gomez, which sneaked inside his blocker arm.

"You look at yesterday, I got two on the blocker and two on the glove," said Theodore. "In this league, when you misplay your angle a little bit, they are going to find the holes. It's really up to me to adjust and make sure my angles are dead on."

Theodore got hammered by the media covering the series in Game 1, but insists he doesn't know what was written.

"I don't really read what is going on in the playoffs, so I don't know how magnified it could get or what it is," he said. "I answer your guys' questions and that's it. When I leave this place, I focus on my game and that's it."

His teammate Boyd Gordon insisted the team still believes in its goalie.

"Oh, definitely," said Gordon. "We're confident Jose will do the job for us. We want to be better in front of him. He's our goalie."

Torts talk
Rangers coach John Tortorella was asked how he was dealing with two off days for his players.

"Yeah, get 'em out of the building today," said Tortorella. "We just had a very short meeting. It was an optional on or off, it was their choice. We want them to get away and we'll start again tomorrow. I don't want to overload them and have them thinking too much. Tomorrow is a day for us to look at some things, both for us and against us, as far as Washington is concerned. And I'm glad we're playing an afternoon game because we don't need to overload them with information. I really believe that. I think we're doing our jobs as coaches to prepare them. I just don't want to over-prepare them where they are stagnant on the ice."

Tortorella didn't put too much stock in gaining home-ice advantage after taking Game 1.

"We win the first game, which is good. It's always nice to win a game to start a series, but we need to just keep our wits about ourselves," he said. "Wherever this falls, it falls. That home-ice stuff, the most important part of it is Game 7, and if it comes to Game 7, it's Washington's advantage."