Quote: It’s A Matter Of Trust
Ales Kotalik hasn’t scored a goal since November 5th. His last assist was December 12th. He returned to the lineup on Monday against Carolina after being a healthy scratch for the first two games of the Rangers winning streak. Last night Kotalik played over nine minutes with over two minutes on the powerplay.
Kotalik knows that he has to re-earn the trust of John Tortorella and to get his confidence back:
“I lost that trust a long time ago,” said Kotalik, relegated to the fourth line. “I want to come out and compete and earn that trust back. Without trust, there’s no confidence.”
…Kotalik needs to take a step back and remember what he does best, what his game is. He is in sort of the position that Chris Drury was in when he was struggling, before he turned in four points in four games. Playing hard and aggressive and doing what Tortorella wants is also a part of it. It would also be benefical to keep the puck in the zone on the powerplay and not turn it over.
It seems like he wants to do to much to score and get the trust back. As Torts said about Drury, Kotalik needs to let the “game come to him”. If he can do that, he can maybe regain more playing time and start scoring.
