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.

“It wasn’t like I asked to go.  I loved my time here,” Gomez said, before the two goals apiece by Ryan Callahan and Brandon Dubinsky lifted the Rangers to a much-needed 6-2 victory at Madison Square Garden last night.

“Having some familiarity with Brian [Gionta, who played with Gomez in New Jersey] and myself [the last two seasons in New York] has made his transition a little easier,” added Paul Mara, the bearded defenseman who moved on to Montreal after New York did not tender a free agent contract.

“Scotty has an infectious personality that everyone around him can enjoy.”

Except the Garden fans, who booed Gomez whenever he touched the puck.  Apparently, they did not feel he was worthy of the $51.5 million, seven-year contract he signed on July 1, 2007.

Gomez, a playmaking center, had 58 points and a -2 rating in 77 games last season; it was his first negative campaign since 2001-02.  Just one day before his second anniversary with the Rangers, he was jettisoned to Montreal, largely for Christopher Higgins.  The money New York saved was ultimately used to sway free agent Marian Gaborik.

On this evening, Gomez and his mates, currently on the fringe of the Eastern Conference playoff race, encountered a Ranger squad that had tallied exactly one goal in its last three games.

Following consecutive shutout losses on Garden ice, New York dropped a 4-1 decision last night in St. Louis.  Its lone scoring play featured Brian Boyle’s fourth goal and Aaron Voros’ second assist, which spoke volumes about the lack of overall scoring.  That was all the Rangers had mustered over the last 172 minutes, of game time, or nearly three hours of real time since winning 3-1 in Boston on January 9.

Until tonight, when Callahan opened his career-best four-point game by tipping Marian Gaborik’s goalmouth pass behind Jaroslav Halak just 57 seconds into the second period.   By the end of the stanza, Dubinsky had added two goals, including the Rangers’ fifth shorthanded tally of the season.

Gomez, whose personal four-game point streak was snapped, admitted to not “keeping tabs” on the Rangers’ helter-skelter season, instead looking to focus on what is required for the Canadiens to finish among the top eight teams in the Eastern Conference.

“It just means every game is a playoff game. But, we’re just starting to get healthy, so we’ll take it from there.”

Coincidentally, there is exactly where his former team is also looking to finish.

[ John J. Buro is the author of “Open Court: A Year With the New York Knicks”, which is now available through www.opencourtbook.com. ]

Saying that New York Rangers’ goalie Henrik Lundqvist masked his team’s recent offensive struggles not only describes his 1-0 shutout over the visiting Boston Bruins, but it simultaneously references a connection with a moment that changed the face -– literally –- of hockey history, fifty years ago to the day.

Go back exactly half a century, also on a Sunday, November 1st, 1959, at the same venue.

Montreal Canadiens’ goalie Jacques Plante left the Garden ice that day after having his nose broken by a wrist shot three minutes into the Canadiens’ eventual 3-1 victory over the Rangers.

Plante returned to that game with a mask and only convinced coach Tom Blake that he should continue wearing it after the Canadiens remained unbeaten for another 17 games with Plante’s scarred face safely protected.

On March 8, 1960, Plante discarded the mask at Blake’s request and the Canadiens lost to Detroit, 3-0. The mask returned for good the next night and the Canadiens went on to win their fifth straight Stanley Cup that season.

But, this isn’t all about what happened fifty years ago. No, it’s about what’s happened since.

Plante became an instant pioneer. Ever since that famed day in 1959, the goalie mask has become standard equipment thanks to the Hall of Famer who additionally revolutionized the game by being the first goaltender to play the puck away from the net and to raise his arm to indicate an icing call, while also perfecting the stand-up positional style of cutting down angles.

Fast forward back to Sunday, after Lundqvist, a great goaltender in his own right, had a special helmet (not just a mask, these days) made featuring renderings of Plante’s masked face, the dates “1959-2009,” and a ticket stub from that now-famous Canadiens-Rangers game in 1959.

Perhaps an even better tribute though, was the way Lundqvist played in the same building fifty years later, recording his first shutout of the season and the 21st of his career, while notching his 150th career victory.

What better way to pay homage to the anniversary of The Plante Mask Game than an old-school, one-goal, milestone, shutout win in a grind-out type of fashion between two Original Six teams? Especially considering that Sunday also marked another anniversary involving the Rangers’ opponent — the 85th anniversary of the Bruins becoming the NHL’s first team based in the United States, on November 1st, 1924.

And, who better to score the only goal in a game of that style than Rangers’ right winger Marian Gaborik?

The Rangers sorely missed their leading scorer, who was a game-time decision after missing the Ranger’s previous two games with a knee injury.

But, even at less than 100 percent, Gaborik was still exactly what New York needed. His lone score was enough offense for Lundqvist, who stopped all 29 shots he faced. Like all great goalies, Lundqvist relished the pressure of protecting a 1-0 lead in the final period. “It was a fun game,” he said. “The feeling was one mistake could cost us big time. “I like that feeling. I have to be on my toes all of the time.”

Gaborik’s goal came as New York cleared its own zone, and center Vinny Prospal streaked up the left side to move inside the face off circle to the right of Bruins’ goaltender Tim Thomas, whose 22 saves earned him the third star of the game behind Gaborik and then Lundqvist (and, no Knick fans, that’s no relation to the other Tim Thomas who used to play basketball in the same arena).

Prospal made a nice cross-ice pass, leaving it back a bit for Gaborik to get to the puck in rhythm and one-time it low and right, for his 11th goal of the season, just out of the reach of the left glove of Thomas, with 4:09 remaining in the second period. The assist was Prospal’s team-leading 14th this season. Defenseman Marc Staal, a 2005 Ranger first-round pick, who passed ahead to Prospal on the play, was also credited with his fourth assist of the season.

Rangers’ head coach John Tortorella said of the game-breaking ability of the former first round pick spending his first year in New York after eight seasons in Minnesota, “That’s why Gabby’s here, that’s why we made the deal.”

Getting more scoring chances for Gaborik or any other Ranger was a challenge all game long in the defensive-minded contest. “In the first half of the game,” Tortorella said, “I was trying like hell to get Gaborick away from Chara,” Boston’s 6-foot-9, 255-pound defenseman tasked with spying the Rangers’ star who entered the game having registered at least one point in 11 of the 12 games in which he appeared this season.

Tortorella noted Gaborik’s other contributions besides the big goal, saying “Gabby scores a big goal for us, [but] I thought he [also] played very well away from the puck and killing penalties.”

That paid extra dividends for the Rangers in a game like Sunday’s, because as Tortorella pointed out, ”You have to play a real patient, grinding type [of] game [against Boston]. I thought our decision making was good. I thought our grinding was better [than it had been].”

Leading by a goal after two periods, the chances were good that the Rangers, who started the season 7-1, winning seven straight games right before a 1-4-1 slide, would get back on the winning track again. Sunday’s victory pushed New York to 7-1 when scoring first this season and a perfect 8-0 when leading after two periods.

Still, it wasn’t over until the final minute, as Boston made several late charges, including back-to-back power plays early in the third period. Ranger defenseman Michael Rozsival was called for tripping 2:28 into the final period. As soon as New York killed off that penalty however, center Brandon Dubinsky was whistled for slashing at 4:28, creating essentially, a four-minute Boston power play.

“I thought we lost ourselves a little bit when we went back-to-back with the penalties in the third period and then they started coming a little bit,” Tortorella said.

But, the Rangers killed off both penalties successfully, as Boston was held to 0-for-5 on the power play for the game. The Rangers were 0-for-2 with the man advantage, themselves.

Tortorella acknowledged the play of Lundqvist and his defense as the reasons the Rangers held on to win. “I think an important part of winning in the third period is your goaltender,” he said. “I thought [Lundqvist] made some key saves in the third period.”

Tortorella noted that the most of the Bruins’ best chances came late in the game, and he was proud of how his team responded defensively. “I think Boston only had two or three chances throughout the first two periods,” he said. “The latter half of the third period they came at us pretty hard but I thought we defended well.”

Two players who helped bolster the defense, who like Gaborik, missed the Rangers’ previous game and were uncertain to play before the puck dropped on Sunday, were left wingers Steve Avery and Smithtown, New York native Christopher Higgins.

Tortorella especially credited Higgins, saying “I thought Higgins had a really good game. It certainly stuck out how hard he played and that’s why he gets on the ice in the last minute of the game because of the way he grinded, blocking shots, killing penalties.”

It was in that final minute that Lundqvist made probably his best and most important save of the game, denying right winger Mark Recchi, the NHL’s active leader in assists, points, and games played, with a pad save, holding on with 47.7 seconds left in the game, after Recchi fired from point blank range, just a few feet outside the crease.

“Henk comes up with a great save there,” said Tortorella.

One that Plante would have probably appreciated himself.

It was certainly respected by the 18,200 fans in attendance, who rose to their feet and serenaded Lundqvist with chants of “Henrik! Henrik!”

Staying undefeated (4-0-1) against the Northeast division and moving to within three points of idle, first-place Pittsburgh in the Atlantic division, the Rangers (9-5-1) will embark on a three-game western trip Tuesday through Saturday, which takes them through Vancouver, Edmonton, and Calgary, before returning home against Atlanta, on November 12th.

The Bruins meanwhile, who played without two key players, center Marc Savard and left winger Milan Lucic, have been the model of inconsistency, starting 6-6-1, having alternated losses and wins over all 13 games this season. Boston will have a chance in the coming week to finally put consecutive wins together during a four-game homestand which commences after a trip to Detroit on Tuesday.

In moving Gomez, the Rangers clear major space on the salary cap since he is due to make $7.4 million next year, while Higgins only made$1.9 million and is a restricted free agent. Yet, general manager Glen Sather managed to get the talented Smithtown native back in the trade.

Higgins, 26, has skated in 282 regular season contests with Montreal, recording 84 goals and 67 assists for 151 points, along with 96 penalty minutes.  The 6-0, 205-pounder has eclipsed the 20-goal mark three times.  In 2007-08, he established career-highs in games played (82), goals (27), assists (25), points (52), power play goals (12), game-winning goals (five), and shots (241).  He led Montreal in shots, tied for second on the team in power play goals and game-winning goals, and ranked third in goals.  He was also one of only three Canadiens to skate in all 82 games during the season.  Higgins registered 11 points (six goals and five assists) in the first 13 games of the season, and went on to surpass the 20-goal plateau for the third straight year.

And the Rangers shed Gomez, whose contract was becoming an albatross. After signing back in 2007, the former New Jersey Devil was supposed to the answer for Jaromir Jagr, but never could jell with the Hall of Fame right wing. He bounced around looking for the right combination, but it never seemed to work like it did back in New Jersey.

He now becomes the latest ex-New Jersey Devil to become a Rangers’ failure.

The move also signals a busy day tomorrow for Sather as free agency opens. Now with cap space, Sather will look for a sniper, while also remolding the team in Tortorella’s image.

Paul Martin celebrates with his teammates. (Bill Menzel/NYSD)

NEWARK, NJ  - Five was the number of the evening for the New Jersey Devils Wednesday night, when they faced the Montreal Canadiens.

Five players notched two points in the Devils’ fifth straight win, a 5-2 success that solidified New Jersey as tops in the Atlantic Division at the All-Star Break.

“We played very solid tonight. We played well. We were able to score goals at the right times. We did a lot of good things tonight,” said Coach Brent Sutter.

New Jersey now has five days to rest, or represent the team in Montreal in the case of Zach Parise, before beginning the second half of the season in Ottawa.

“Coming off the road trip, we felt we were playing very strong. To get this win like we did tonight going into the break was huge for us. We don’t want to stop that momentum that we have going and the good feeling we have going,” said goalie Scott Clemmensen, who stopped 26 of the 28 shots he faced.

Clemmensen set the tone early in the game, stopping several close-range shots by sliding side to side with about five minutes gone. From there, the defense took over.

With 11:52 remaining in the first, defenseman Paul Martin charged out of the penalty box after a cross-checking call, and took the puck from Patrick Elias straight up the middle of the ice.

Martin fired from right outside the crease and put the puck past Canadien goaltender Carey Price, who was in his first full game back from eight games missed due to injury.

“He had the pads open a little bit, and I tried to sneak it through there and luckily it went through there,” Martin said.

The defensemen remained the story for the Devils, overshadowing Brendan Shanahan’s first start at home in a New Jersey sweater since 1991.

“My defensemen were unbelievable tonight, moving the puck, finding the puck, boxing guys out, clearing rebounds, moving it up, just everything. They were awesome tonight. And they contributed offensively as well,” praised Clemmensen. “My ‘D’ tonight were outstanding, best game of the year.”

The blue-liners received another point six minute into the second period. Johnny Oduya fed the puck to Parise. Parise’s shot from the left dot was stopped, but Travis Zajac crashed the net and put the puck in before Price undercut and toppled him.

Oduya then teamed up with Martin, with less than two minutes left in the second, for the team’s third goal. Martin passed the puck to a waiting Oduya, who fired the puck past Price.

The play was set up when David Clarkson made a big hit in the corner to help keep the puck in the zone.

With a 3-1 lead heading into the third period, the Devils moved into shutdown mode.

“I think you have to concentrate a little more. With us we can’t sit back and relax. We try to get the puck in and cycle with our big forwards who do a good job down there, concentrate on not turning the puck over and do a good job of shutting down defensively,” Martin described of the team’s third-period strategy.

Montreal was able to score a power play goal in the third when Matt D’Agostini went top shelf on Clemmensen, who had Max Pacioretty screening in front.

But New Jersey’s offense answered back. Parise scored his 28^th goal of the season, on an unassisted play from the left wing, and Patrick Elias sealed the game with 55 seconds left by putting in an empty-netter, his 20^th of the season.

After the game, attention turned to Shanahan, who saw time on the power play, the penalty kill and on several different lines.

“The timing of coming back now is good, because we get a little bit of a break. I’ll be skating, I won’t be taking a full break, but there won’t be the intensity of the games,” Shanahan said of his immediate plans, after revealing he was feeling “a good kind of sore.”

The veteran said he was glad to see ice time in the different situations.

“You know, there’s a part of you that wants to dive in and do everything, but I think we have a plan, it’s a good plan, and it’s working slowly,” explained Shanahan.

With the changing lines and impending break, the Devils could have made excuses for a poor performance Wednesday night. But the importance of going into the break on top of the division and performing well against a conference foe was not taken for granted.

“They play a very similar style to us, they’re a great team, there’s no weaknesses at any position. It was one of those things where we were fortunate to come out ahead,” said Clemmensen.

With a 4-1 victory, the Devs have moved into a temporary tie for fifth place in the Eastern Conference with the Philadelphia Flyers, before the Flyers beat Anaheim later in the evening.

The win also pulled New Jersey within one point of Montreal in the standings, and two points of Atlantic Division co-leader New York Rangers.

With many of their top players scratched with injuries, the Habs looked like the Devils of earlier in the season.

“It changes dynamics on your team, but as an opposition you don’t get caught up in that. You worry about your own game and how you have to play. I don’t think anyone felt sorry for us when we went through that situation,” said Devils’ coach Brent Sutter.

Against the depleted visitors, New Jersey found the back of the net first.

Defenseman Mike Mottau chipped the puck out from the boards and pushed the puck to Patrick Elias at center.

Elias made his way to center ice before making a cross-ice pass to a wide-open Brian Gionta on the right wing, crossing the blue line. Gionta sped to the right face-off circle and fired, rifling the puck underneath Canadiens’ goalie Jarolsav Halak’s right leg pad, with 14:21 gone in the first period.

“We had a four-on-two broken with two back checkers, so I looked at the middle, it wasn’t there, and I tried to find a spot on net,” said Gionta.

Third on the team in points, when Gionta scores New Jersey gives itself a much better chance of winning. The team is 9-1 this season when “Gio” finds the net.

“I think we’re finding an offensive spark. We’re playing good hockey the last 20-30 games; it balances the attack a lot more when we’re going,” Gionta said of how his line’s success parlays into team wins.

But nothing was certain even with that recent history backing the Devils.

Montreal tied the game two minutes later when recent-call-up Max Pacioretty took a pass from Kyle Chipchura up the right boards and put his first career goal over the shoulder of Scott Clemmensen in goal.

“We don’t give up too many odd man rushes, let alone two-on-one, and that one guy (Pacioretty) came down my left side and beat me over the glove, plain and simple,” explained Clemmensen.

Despite the game being tied, the Devils would not give up control of the game’s momentum. Shortly after the Canadiens’ goal, agitator David Clarkson and Montreal winger Tom Kostopolulos got together at center ice to fight. Earlier in the period, Clarkson jawed with several of the Canadiens after Mike Rupp took a brutal hit in the corner.

The fight, which Clarkson won by takedown, kept the crowd and the Devils’ bench energized.

New Jersey regained the lead with a minute and a half left in the first period when Zach Parise faked a pass and put the puck in through Halak’s five-hole.

John Madden broke a 24-game scoring drought in the second to give New Jersey a two-goal lead. Madden and Rupp broke a two-on-one down the ice, and put the puck top-shelf over Halak.

After the second period, Halak’s night was finished. Marc Denis replaced Halak in goal for the third session. Regular goalie Carey Price was injured before the Habs’ last game against Tampa Bay, as was forward Alex Tanguay.

At the other end of the ice, Clemmensen was keeping the Habs off the scoreboard.

With 4:15 left in the second, Clemmensen made several key saves against Tomas Plekanec’s line, preserving the 3-1 lead.

“It was a tough game, because it was a two-goal lead, which is very deceiving, especially in this sport,” said Clemmensen. “Any time if they score, it’s three to one most of the game, and if they get that one goal, that makes it a one goal game and the complexion of the game changes a lot from there.”

Clemmensen maintained his high level of play in the third, making two glove saves off of face-offs in front of him half-way through the period. Clemmensen saved 33 of 34 shots he faced, including all seven power play shots the Canadiens took.

Clemmensen’s win was secured at 13:11 in the third period. Bryce Salvador saved the puck from leaving the Devils’ offensive zone, and put a shot on net from the left side.

Salvador’s shot bounced off the net and Parise recovered the puck to the left of the net. Parise made a slick backwards pass to Jamie Langenbrunner in the slot, and Langenbrunner put the security goal past Denis’ left glove.

“We’re tough when we have the lead after two (periods). We’re tough to come back on,” Parise said.

The Canadiens out-hit and out-shot the Devils throughout the game, but New Jersey was in control of the tempo throughout.

“Four to one final score I don’t think was very indicative of the type of the game it was tonight,” said Clemmensen.

The Devils, coming off of a three game road trip, responded to Coach Sutter’s criticism of the team’s play in Dallas on Wednesday.

“I had good vibes coming into the rink today that we were going to play a really good game. We had a tremendous effort from out goaltender right on out — go right through the whole lineup, everyone played very well,” said Sutter.

“I trust that group inside that room. There’s times through the year that where coaches are going to challenge their players and that’s the way it is, that’s the game, that’s sports,” Sutter said of his Wednesday post-game comments.

Sunday the Devils will continue their push for the top of the Eastern Conference when they take on the Ottawa Senators at 5 p.m., at the Prudential Center.

Next week, New Jersey will travel to Carolina for a match, come home to face Atlanta, and then embark on a nine-day, six-game road trip. This is the second long road trip of the season for the Devils, who finished 4-1 on a five-game, 18-day trip starting before Thanksgiving.

“No games are easy; it’s going to be a tight battle to the end. We’re almost to the midway point now, and I don’t think anything is going to change here in the second half as far as how tight it’s going to be. We’re going to find a way to get a few more wins than we did in the first half, and then we’ll be in those upper four teams,” said Langenbrunner.