Last Night - Torts was a genius

John Tortorella, the Rangers Head Coach, with an assist from GM Glen Sather, made a lot of changes to this Rangers team this year. And - while things may be different down the road - right now Tortorella is looking like a genius.

Nugman (and check out all of the Nugman's great game posts below if you missed them last night) gave Tortorella the #1 star last night for calling the time out 84 seconds in and absolutely screaming at his players for their terrible start to the game. And while I agree - that tirade got the Rangers off the collective red seats of their pants and into the game - that's just one of several ways that Torts looked very very smart last night:

• John shifted our defenseman scheme to younger - more offensive minded players - guys like Del Zotto and Gilroy. And it was just a year ago that reporters were lamenting how our best young talent was languishing in the pipeline - never getting here from Hartford. But now our kids have not just made the team - they've made the team better. Gilroy and Del Zotto moved the puck, crept up on offense, and each scored a goal. It's a new dimension to our offense that just wasn't there a year ago - and it"s Tortorella that put this emphasis on the type of players he wanted.

• The Power Play. Tortorella has put different players and a different scheme out there - and finally - it is paying off. Two power play goals last night - and when is the last time your Rangers tallied two power play goals in one game?

• The Penalty Kill. We were worried this would be a disaster after Betts ands Sjostrom were shown the exit by Torts and Sather. And we did let up a power play goal last night - but just one in 6 tries - roughly where we were last year. So the PK is not a huge step down from last year - at least not yet.

• We're scoring. As we've been saying over here at Blueshirt Brothers - "Three for Henrik - that's all he needs". Whatever Torts is doing with the forecheck and the attacking style - its' working. The team delivered Hank his 3 goals yesterday - and that was the difference.

• Our personnel. We know that Sather has the last word on this - but we also know that this year - unlike previous years - it is John Tortorella who is getting huge input on the Ranger's player decisions. And look how it payed off last night for the New Rangers: Gaborik - an assist. Kotalik - goal and assist. Prospal - 2 assists. Gilroy - goal. Del Zotto - goal and assist. And for returning Rangers - just Callahan's assist. So our new guys are all contributing.

• Hank is playing well. The Ranger's attacking style may be helping Hank stay sharp. Under Renney I think Hank was often burned out by the endless stream of shots against and the low scoring of his teammates. This year Hank has faced some huge chances - but he also gets some breathing room -and it seems to be helping his game

It's a long season. But so far, we love John Tortorella. Win or lose - you see the man out there coaching. And so far - it's working.

Take a few seconds and vote in our poll on the right - where will the Rangers finish this season - with the Cup - out of the playoffs - or somewhere in between?