Now, Drury isn’t the best of quotes in the room, because he’s so reserved and many might say he can speak in clichés simply because of his guarded nature.

Yet, tonight was different, as the Ranger captain reached his boiling point with the team, after they were outplayed in their 3-1 loss to the Montreal Canadiens on home ice. Speaking with Drury, along with another reporter, when asked about what is the team’s problem, the center replied, “Immaturity, that’s what it’s been all year. Simple answer.”

And then I asked what can be done about it, Drury snapped, “Grow up real fast, in the last 12 or 13 games or whatever the hell we have left, or we will be watching playoff hockey.”

Then as the television cameras came over, the Ranger captain ended the interview.

Although he spoke for only about a minute, his words were as sharp as anytime during his three year tenure on Broadway. This team is very immature and is only in the playoff hunt because they have one of the top five goaltenders in the league.

This all starts from the top. If John Tortorella is to be believed from what he told the press today, then this team watches no video of the opponent and he doesn’t know the rules of the game off the top of his head.

If this is actually true, then Tortorella should be fired today. No modern coach can just wing it with an opponent by not watching video and of course he knows the rulebook, if he didn’t then he has no business standing behind a NHL bench.

We all know this isn’t the case. Rather, the Ranger coach continually dismisses questions from every reporter he doesn’t want to answer. Both questions were innocent enough (one was asked before the game and one after), but instead, Tortorella arrogantly and immaturely decides to blow off the reporters inquiries he doesn’t want to answer.

Frankly, if it wasn’t written into his contract, he probably wouldn’t talk to the press at all.

That sets the tone for the rest of the team. Under Tom Renney, the Ranger room was the easiest beat to ever work. Stories would write themselves as loquacious players would fill notebooks and tape recorders.

Now, things seem to have changed as many a Ranger picks and chooses his words carefully as not to tick off the guy in charge.

Yet, this is not the most damning statement about the team. Rather it’s the personnel decisions that Tortorella influenced on Glen Sather. If Renney was still the coach, both Blair Betts and Colton Orr would probably have been re-signed and Donald Brashear would be stealing someone else’s money.

Then there’s the defense, filled with either over the hill veterans and untested youngsters. There’s no shame in going with youth, but the system would have to augment the talent. Unfortunately, that doesn’t happen on the Rangers, where too many mental errors occur on the blue line, causing too much strain on Henrik Lundqvist.

Plus you should have a mentoring program in place where the veterans teach the rookies. Unfortunately, both Wade Redden and Michal Rozsival are ill-equipped in that department, so Michael Del Zotto, Matt Gilroy, and Marc Staal have to learn on the fly.

At  forward, there are also problems as Ryan Callahan, and Brandon Dubinsky have not grown into top six forwards, some would say they have taken steps back this season.  Too much early season reliance on Marian Gaborik has taken a toll on the Rangers leading scorer and none of the younger players have stepped up.

Now, Drury is not immune to any of this either. During large stretches this season the captain has vanished on the ice and his skills have eroded over the past two years. On a team filled with talent, the center probably would flourish, but as a main cog, he seems to struggle.

As captain, Drury seems to be a very quiet leader, which is not what this team seems to need, but it seems Mark Messier or Brendan Shanahan couldn’t get through to these guys now either.

The Rangers have 12 games left in the season and based on tonight’s loss there doesn’t seem to be an urgency on the ice. Each game now is a playoff game for this squad and if the Rangers don’t grow up, as Drury said, then the Garden will be dark come April.

And that would be a first in five years and a very disappoint first full year for Tortorella.

Ersan IIyasova came off the bench to score a season high 25 points and grab nine rebounds while Brandon Jennings scored 19 of his 22 points in the second half to lead the Bucks to a 114-107 victory. It was New York’s fourth loss in the last five games and now drop to 19-30.

After taking a 59-54 first half lead that saw them commit only one turnover, the Knicks were unable to take care of the ball in the second half as Milwaukee outscored them 36-22 in the third quarter and would hold on to the lead for good. New York would end up commiting 10 turnovers in the second half.

” They just got a lot of offensive rebounds, ” D’Antoni said. ” We turned it over five times. Those were the biggest combinations. They just beat us to the ball. They beat us to the basket, beat us to the screen, beat us to everything. That’s not a good combo.”

David Lee led the way for the Knickerbockers with another fine game scoring a season high 32 points and recording 15 rebounds for his 30th double double of the season. It’s his 18th 20/10 game of the season. Al Harrington added 22 points and eight rebounds off the bench while Nate Robinson who made us first contributed 13 points and seven assists with zero turnovers. It was Nate’s first start of the season and first in over a year and never got going shooting 3 for 12 from the field.

” It just felt awkward out there,” Robinson said. ” Trying to do everything we can, we just fell short. We have to watch film, go back and figure out what those lapses were, where those grey areas were and bounce back and capitalize.

The Knicks got a glimpse of what could have been with Brandon Jennings, the former Oak Hill Academy star who skipped college to play in Italy, as the point guard of the future. After a dismal first half in which he shot 1 for 7 for 3 points, he got it going in the third quarter with eight straight Milwaukee points. He nailed a 3-pointer that tied it at 64 and then a three-point play that gave the Bucks a 69-67 lead. Instead of that, the Knicks had turn to Robinson who is starting for the struggling Duhon.

” It’s not his fault, ” D’Antoni said. ” He was fine. We’re just not a real cohesive unit with a lot of spirit right now for whatever reason. There are a lot of times during the game when we start to sag a little bit and we just don’t have any collective spirit. It pops up a few times a year and it’s popped up now.”

After Jennings gave the Bucks the two point lead, the Knicks scored the next six points to take a 73-69 lead with 5:35 remaining after David Lee hit a running layup. But the Bucks would get real hot as they ended the quarter on a 21-8 run that included IIyasova slam of a pick and roll feed from Jennings to give them a 86-78 lead.

” I don’t know where we really went wrong,” Lee said. They put in a small lineup, something we have not seen in a while. The did a good job, they hit shots. Ersan is the one who really made the difference.”

The Knick fans booed after the third quarter came to an end and would get worse in the fourth after a Jerry Stackhouse 3 pointer gave the Bucks a 97-84 lead. The Knicks would get as close as six with 1:32 left but Jennings hit a bank shot with 32 seconds left to put the game away for good.

Another key factor for tonight was how much of a no factor Danillo Ganillari was. He only shot 2 for 6 from the field for only seven points. He was even off from the free throw line shooting 2 for 6 as well.

” Their defense is really good, ” D’Antoni said. ” That’s what they live on. They got into him. You have to learn. A few times in the first half he could have jumped into them and got a lot of foul shots because they were really running at him. Those are things to learn.”

Gallinari seemed to be more concerned on the loss that his performance and still feels there is time to make a run for the playoffs.

” We lost an important game for us,” Gallinari said. ” Today was important to us as Bucks is a team we have to beat to make playoffs. Sometimes the bad game happens for me. But it’s a long way to go and we still have a chance to get in playoffs but we have to fight hard.”

There is time but they can’t afford any more losses. New York has dropped further and further out of the playoff picture as the Bulls and Bobcats have stepped it up since the start of 2010 while the Knicks have faded. They have two games before the All-Star break, including a matchup against the team with the NBA’s best record, the Cleveland Cavaliers on Saturday night.

There’s just something special when two greats match up for an epic battle. And 18,200 fans saw two titans in Marty Brodeur and Henrik Lundqvist face off.

“[Henrik] played phenomenal,” said forward Brandon Dubinsky. “He gave us a chance to win. Obviously Marty is a great goalie and played well, but we have to just stay on it. We played a good game tonight against a good team.”

Actually, according to coach John Tortorella, the Rangers played really well. With 51 shots on Brodeur, the Blueshirts may have played their best overall game and to quote a Jim Dolan phrase of a few years ago, did everything asked of them except win.

Lundqvist stopped 45 on his own end, yet Patrik Elias was able to beat the Ranger met minder in the fourth round of the shootout to give the Devils the 1-0 win.

“I’m glad I was involved, because I thought it was a hell of a game to watch,” Tortorella said. “As a coach you are right behind the bench. I thought it was a really good game – chances for both teams. We kill off a 5-on-3 for almost two minutes. I have no complaints on how we played. It is frustrating when you come away with one point there.”

The Rangers averted disaster on that 5-on-3, 12:04 into the second. Both Erik Christenson and Dubinsky went to the box for different infractions, giving the Devils a major scoring chance. Yet, the penalty kill came through tremendously by limiting the Devils chances and outing the puck twice during the two minutes.

“We have a philosophy with it,” Tortorella said. “The only tape we show if the other team’s defense is their special teams or when they had a 5-on-3 recently. There’s a philosophy to it but what it comes down to is, eventually, you will have to block shots. They are going to change their look. I thought our guys did a great job.”

Yet all of this was not enough against Brodeur, who got his 107^th shutout and stopped a career high in shots. Even with almost perfect play, the future Hall of Famer just was too much for the Blueshirts, and Lundqvist was forced to raise his game.

“I knew after the first period that it was going to be a tight game and I can’t afford any mistakes,” Lundqvist said. “I think we played really well in our own end. We didn’t create that many scoring chances. We put a lot of pucks on the net and tried to come up with opportunities from rebounds. They are very solid. They controlled the middle in their own zone very well and made it tough for us to get in there and get any scoring chances.”

Yet, don’t fret because the Rangers did get the one point from this match and won 9 out of 13 games, putting them sixth in the conference. With Ottawa coming in on Thursday, the Rangers have a chance to continue their strong ways.

Notes: Vinny Prospal returned after a seven game absence, due to a knee injury, Tortorella said he “played well”… The Rangers have scored points in the last 12 out of 12 games…the 51 shots on goals were the most by the Rangers since they tossed 51 against the Islanders on Apr. 4, 2008….The last time the Rangers and Devils finished a game scoreless in regulation was Dec 9, 2007.

Alston’s take from Yahoo Sports:

“I’m excited not only to be with the Nets but to be able to play in front of family and friends, and also the opportunity to help a franchise turn things around,” Alston told Yahoo Sports. “I know we have a lot of young athletic guys. That’s one thing I stressed to Kiki (general manager Vandeweghe) and Rod (team president Thorn) is that I’m very excited to be on the court with a lot of young athletic guys, although I’m getting old.

“Most people get down about a trade. I had the opportunity to get traded from a contending team to another contender. Now I have a chance to help a team turn things around,” concluded Alston.

My Thoughts: He could have been shocked, but the guy is obviously adept at handling the media and is ready to play this upcoming season. While his role will most likely be smaller, Alston did a good job here of playing his cool and giving cliché answers. Nevertheless, he should be a good option off the bench.

Lee’s take from Yahoo Sports:
“Going all the way to the Finals on a good team, just expecting to regroup for next year and make it back to the playoffs again, and to get the news that you’ve been traded—it definitely was a shock but it’s one I have to live with,” said Lee.

My Thoughts: He was honest. Most young players say things like this and when they get older, they learn to keep quiet. Overall, I think it was more of the media trying to look for a story here. On my depth chart, Lee looks to get big minutes and while Orlando was the better team, he will have an opportunity to be a better player in New Jersey. After the first few games, he’ll understand that too.

Battling injuries to key players and inconsistency from their bench and several young players, the Nets indeed have a plethora of work ahead of them before they’ll be a playoff team once again.

“It’s very disappointing,” Nets head coach Lawrence Frank told the Burlington County Times last week. “It hurts. It hurts not being able to participate in the playoffs. We’re a 34-win team. Is that acceptable? No. We want to put ourselves in position to be a playoff team. It you’re not in the postseason, then you should be disappointed.”

Earlier in the season, many felt that Frank was in danger of losing his job. However, it appears for the time being that the young coach has a home for at least one more season.

A season that will either cement his reputation in the league or force him to attempt to find a new home to do his job.

“I have always liked Lawrence as a coach and been supportive of Lawrence,” Thorn told the Associated Press a few days ago. “I know a lot of good things he does as a coach, it’s part of it. We’ve won a certain number of games two years in a row and it’s natural we sit down, we always sit down at the end of the year and talk about players, coaches and this is part of it.”

While Frank and the organization feel a bit more pessimistic about the team’s current situation, the team itself has a few ideas on how to make sure they don’t miss the playoffs for a third consecutive season.

“We’re just a couple of pieces away,” Vince Carter insisted to Yahoo Sports. “Rebounding, that’s what we need. We just need a guy who cleans up the glass. We have a lot of scoring. We have a lot of shooters. We have guys who can just get a bucket when you need it.”

While Brooks Robinson was no slouch on the boards this season, Carter definitely has the right idea here. A player that could help out on the boards at the power forward position could be a huge step in the right direction for this team, especially considering how inconsistent Yi Jianlian was last season.

Photo by Bill Menzel.

No word as of yet, who step in behind the bench, but according to multiple sources it will probably be former Tampa coach John Tortorella, with Sather trying to hammer out a deal as we speak. Newsday reports, one veteran in the locker room saying the new coach “will be a hard-ass” which will fit Tortorella’s profile and the Journal News said that Lundqvist said the team will meet the new coach tomorrow, meaning it will be someone not under contract with the Rangers right now.

According to published reports, the general manager Glen Sather decided to pull the plug this morned around 12 p.m. Renney addressed the team, and then Sather.

Renney leaves the team after five years behind the bench with a 164-121-42 record. An very organized coach, he was widely regarded as the man who turned around the franchise, by making the playoffs for the last three season. But after veterans Jaromir Jagr, and Brandan Shanahan left the club, the Blueshirts seemed directionless this season and had trouble scoring on special teams situations.

And then after going 2-7-3 in the last 11 games and falling out of the race in the East, Sather pulled the plug on Renney.

Sather will be speaking later on a conference call.

No matter what the coach’s future will be, the Rangers need to do the right thing. Instead of letting “Renney Watch” hang over the team for a weeks, they need to make a decision and live with it. Either let Renney go and replace him with another coach – most likely being assistant general manager Jim Schoenfeld – or publically announce that Renney is the Rangers coach for the rest of the season and live with the decision.

Any other move will lead to continued speculation, negative chants from the Garden rafters, and ultimately more losses, since the players will become more tuned out to their coach.

Last summer we saw this with the Mets decision on Willie Randolph. Instead of giving their manager the thumbs up or ultimate dismissal, the team waivered, until being put in a position where firing him made him a sympathetic figure. Randolph was let go on the west coast after managing the Mets to a win. After being fired after the game, the press release came out at 3:17 a.m. Eastern Time. All that did was manage to infuriate the media, because it was missed in the morning papers, while keeping many sports writers up the night trying to get the story on the websites.

If the Mets made a quick decision on Randolph, it could be argued the team would have made the playoffs in 2008. Instead of 30 days of questions about their manager, the players would have moved on, and you would think the team would have one a few more games.

This is why the Rangers need to make a quick decision. As “Renney Watch” intensifies and more and more non -hockey reporters come to the Garden, the players will get questions about the status of their coach, which will probably translate to more losses on the ice, as the inquisitions will weigh upon them. The only way of stopping this vicious cycle will be when general manager Glen Sather or Garden chairman James Dolan makes a public announcement about the status of Renney.

Besides, Renney deserves better than twisting in the wind. Starting right before the lockout, the coach has brought dignity and grace back to the franchise. He has been the face of the organization, while Sather sat back on his high perch, shunning the public spotlight. The coach of the Rangers needs to be treated the same way he treated everyone he encountered as coach of the Blueshirts.

That’s why the Garden needs to do something. They need to say Renney is their man or put someone in whom they will stand behind. They can’t let Renney stand out there naked to take abuse from the New York crowd. It would be wrong, could torpedo the Rangers season, and ultimately makes Dolan and Sather look like fools.

Valentin is coming back from injury which pretty much kept him out all of last season, with a pinched nerve in his neck suffered during Spring Training.

But back in 2006, the 39 year-old had a banner year, hitting .271 with 18 homers are the Mets’ No. 1 second baseman. Yet, he broke his tibia the following season, which prompted general manager Omar Minaya to trade for Luis Castillo.

The Mets will need some bodies in Spring Training, especially on the infield with Carlos Delgado, Jose Reyes, and David Wright going to the World Baseball Classic. Because of that, Valentin will get a long look and could possibly make the team as a righthander off the bench, since the Mets are looking for someone to fill that role.

But to ask for Tom Renney’s head for this outrage is ridiculous.

In his fourth full season as Rangers head coach, Renney brought back the pride of the Rangers organization. After missing the playoffs seven years and having poor choices behind the bench, the Blueshirts found a man, who knows how to handle a dressing room, the media, and the pressures that come with being on Broadway. He is organized, smart and stands behind his players.

Tom Renney is 162-127-40 as Rangers head coach. (Jim Leary/NYSD)

Plus he made the playoffs for three years in a row and won two rounds. Just for that reason alone, Renney deserves the season.

To make a change now, means general manager Glen Sather will probably take a candidate from inside of the organization, one subscribes to the same defensive philosophy as Renney.  That means the same lack of scoring problems will arise from time to time. Right now, the Rangers do not have a No. 1 finisher, like a Jaromir Jagr, so it’s the coach’s job to win with what he has. The Blueshirts won’t win the 5-4 games. They were built from the beginning to grind out the 2-1 matchups.

But that means they will also be playoff tested, since many of those games end up as low scoring affairs. Renney knows this and he also knows all he has to do is finish in the top eight. With his defensive system and Henrik Lundqvist in goal, the Rangers have a chance win any round. As of today, the Rangers are sitting in sixth place, 10 games over .500. It’s true they are five points out of the playoffs, but they are six points behind the Devils for first in the tight Eastern Conference.

Also remember, the Rangers are owned by Madison Square Garden, an organization which says loyal to its soldiers. Isiah Thomas got shown the door after five years of bad basketball and $13 million sexual harassment loss. Glen Sather stayed in his job despite missing the playoffs his first four seasons. Renney had four bad games.

Maybe, though, the Garden loyalty will get rewarded. Two years ago, Tom Coughlin faced the ax with the Giants, but he was given the chance to turn around the team. Coughlin won the Super Bowl the next season. That’s not to say, Renney will win the Stanley Cup this season, but he could surprise people in the playoffs.

It just doesn’t make sense to ask for Renney’s head right now. Sure he makes his mistakes, but he feels his message is getting through. In today’s NY Post, Renney told Larry Brooks he felt his job is safe.

“It’s a question that has an inevitability to it regarding anyone’s shelf life, but I do believe they’re listening to me,” said Renney in the Post. “I do not believe it’s reached the point where the message has become redundant.

“I know this group [of players]. I firmly believe they want to do well for the organization, themselves and the coaching staff, but I’m not sure that they know how, and that’s generally what the conversation just now was about.

“I don’t believe that a change is being considered and with the relationship I have with the organization, I think I would be aware of it if that were the case. I don’t sense we’re anywhere near that.”

If the Rangers miss the playoffs this season, then the Rangers may make a change. It would give Sather a chance to hire someone from outside the organization, and time to come up with their own system. But as of right now, Renney’s job seems to be safe. And rightfully so.