Brooks: Defense First Now For Rangers
In today’s New York Post, Larry Brooks writes about how the the Rangers have altered their system to feature more defense:
“It’s always defense first,” said Tortorella, who did not say any such thing (at least publicly) last year or during training camp. “It’s not falling back, but it’s defense first in being on the right side of the puck.
“We still want to forecheck, but it’s not about just going. It’s never been about that. In the neutral zone we’re now in kind of a hybrid forecheck [where we don't gamble as much].”
…The Rangers don’t have the horses, or at least haven’t shown it scoring-wise, to play the all out system that Tortorella had originally intended. Because of that, Tortorella altered the system enough so that it can benefit the team the most and they can try and limit the mistakes against. Its not like the Rangers are trying to win games 2-1, they are still trying to score more and play more offensive, but when it comes to protecting a lead or playing differently, the team can.
Brooks alludes to former coach Tom Renney and the system that he used to employ, but Brandon Dubinsky says that there is no comparison:
“With Tom, we pretty much had a one-man forecheck with guys backing up a lot,” said Dubinsky, “Now, we’re still committed to the two-man forecheck and our defense is still encouraged to jump into the play if it’s there for them.
…Its just an altered version of Tortorella’s system that they are playing now. Its a smarter system to try and cut down on mistakes, and that should benefit the Rangers moving forward. Will there be boring games? Most definitely. But its always worth it if the Rangers end up with two point at the end.
