Quote: Staal’s Learning Curve
During last night’s loss to Minnesota, Marc Staal scored the Rangers second goal but turned the puck over in the neutral zone which led to the Wild scoring the game winner.
After the game, Coach John Tortorella spoke about what Staal still has to learn:
“What Stallsie has to learn, it’s not the D leading the rush, before he turns it over (on the third goal), he makes a great play behind the net. He has Dru wide open, he’s got to headman the puck, that’s a basic play, headman the puck and then join that way. You simply cannot beat people if they have the neutral zone jammed and go one on one, he’s young, he’s going to learn that.”
For more on Staal, check out Blue Notes.
…I was hearing some comments, on twitter, about Staal’s play last night and while its frustrating to see him turn the puck over, its all part of the learning process for him to be the type of defenseman that Torts wants him to be. Defensively, Staal has been solid, though struggled recently, he is still the Rangers most sound defenseman defensively.
