Posted by Pierre LeBrun
NEW YORK -- Rangers captain Chris Drury played only 1:34 in the third period Monday night. Was he hurt or was it a coach's decision?
"I think whatever was clicking was clicking," Drury said Tuesday after practice. "I was really not going to complain or say anything negative. Whatever minutes I get, I'm just going to do the best with it and I'll do whatever I can to help us win."
Asked whether he thought he was questionable for Wednesday's Game 4, Drury said: "I hope not, no."
So Chris, are you hurt or not?
"The best I can say is just day to day," he said. "That's how I'm playing it and I think that's how he's playing it and we'll go from there."
Rangers coach John Tortorella reiterated Drury was day to day. It's been tough on the captain and the coach can empathize.
"Our team, they know one another and Chris is a big part of it and they want him [to be] part of it and they know how much he wants to be part of it," said Tortorella. "I'm encouraged today by the way he practiced, but sure everyone is pulling for him. He's likable. He has a storyline behind him of how hard he plays, and he's a big part of the club if we want to win. If you're thinking about winning, you want him part of it."
At today's practice, the Rangers' lines did not include Drury. Defenseman Paul Mara was not on the ice and Drury was acting as the sixth D.
Lines were:
• Avery-Gomez-Callahan
• Sjostrom-Korpikoski-Antropov
• Naslund-Dubinsky-Zherdev
• Voros-Betts-Orr
Dr. Torts
The Rangers' coach was asked if he had to reinforce to his players that they, not Washington, are up 2-1 in the series despite Monday's effort.
"You have to be real careful," he said. "You can't get too high when you win and you can't get too low when you lose. That's what is so great about the series and the National Hockey League playoffs, you get to do it again tomorrow night. As I've said all along here, they have grabbed the momentum and we need to try to grab it back. If you win a hockey game, you can grab back momentum."
Tortorella downplayed any mental letdown by his team.
"I think their top players brought it up a notch, and for us to get back to a win and get momentum, our top players have to bring it up a notch. Are our guys down today? No. There is no time to be down, it's about trying to recapture something to get momentum back your way. I'm hoping that our top guys and a couple of big plays at key times gives us some confidence. That's the mentality we're looking for."
Mr. Avery
After two effective games in Washington, Sean Avery had a night to forget Monday with four minor penalties and a game misconduct.
"He had a bump in the road last night where he got sucked into it with [John] Erskine," said Tortorella. "It's a dumb penalty and I think Sean knows it. But I think Sean has done a pretty good job along the way here of trying to keep himself under control. It's just not letting anybody get inside of him and he can be an effective guy, and has been. Even last night, he was an effective player for us last night, but he has to make sure he stays on the edge and doesn't cross it. At a time last night, he did, but it's one too many times. That's the key for Sean and I think he's done a pretty good job."
GM jitters
Caps GM George McPhee admits he was on pins and needles last Saturday after the team decided to go with rookie Simeon Varlamov in goal.
"Yeah, absolutely," said McPhee. "And I went through that a few times this year. I went through it when he played his first game in Montreal, went through that with [Michal] Neuvirth and his first game in Tampa this year. You have high hopes for the kids, but you don't know what's going to happen. You don't know if they're going to play well or give up six in the first period. You just don't know."
Nyet English
Varlamov doesn't speak a lot of English, but goalie coach Dave Prior figures that might have been a good thing in Game 3.
"It certainly might have helped him last night when Mr. Avery was talking to him," said Prior. "When I asked him what [Avery] said, he said to me, 'I don't know, you'd have to ask John Erskine.'"
Caps coach Bruce Boudreau figures Varlamov probably doesn't know enough about Avery to know any better.
"I don't know if he knows Avery well enough to know that that's his shtick," said Boudreau. "If you watch after the end of the thing, he took off his mask and wasn't paying any attention to it. I think he is a very focused young man."
Boudreau once again had the media in stitches Tuesday when he was asked just how Varlamov communicates with his defensemen during the game given his limited English.
"I really don't know. I guess through the eyes? They look at each other."
Noticing Nicklas
People were still buzzing Tuesday following Nicklas Backstrom's three-assist performance in Game 3.
"People don't know him, he sort of flies under the radar because of Alex [Ovechkin] and Mike [Green] and such, but he's a pretty good player," said Boudreau. "He doesn't get knocked off the puck. He doesn't look like a big guy out there, but he is really strong. It showed out there. He competes really hard. We're lucky to have a guy like him. He is a top-notch center at 21 years old."
Not enough Brash
Veteran tough guy Donald Brashear played only 2:35 in Game 3, his first taste of playoff hockey this spring.
"I didn't play him as much as I probably would've liked to, more because we had a lot of power plays and they had a lot of power plays," said Boudreau. "I thought he did his job along the boards. For his first game in 16, I didn't think he was going to get a lot of minutes and I told him he wasn't going to get a lot of minutes. We'll try to increase it each game."
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