Audio: Rangers No Match For Preds, Lose 2-1

The Rangers were defeated by the Nashville Predators, 2-1, tonight at Madison Square Garden and thanks to Bob Trainor of Trainor Communications, sound has been provided to our readers and listeners.

John Tortorella

[audio:https://www.nysportsday.com/trainor/tortorella_021010.mp3]

Chris Drury

[audio:https://www.nysportsday.com/trainor/Drury_021010.mp3]

Henrik Lundqvist

[audio:https://www.nysportsday.com/trainor/Lundqvist_021010.mp3]

Jason Arnott

[audio:https://www.nysportsday.com/trainor/arnott_021010.mp3]

Dan Ellis

[audio:https://www.nysportsday.com/trainor/ellis_021010.mp3]

Notes:

New York has now posted a record of 26-27-7 (59 pts.) overall, including a 13-15-4 (30 pts.) mark at home this season.

The Rangers tallied one goal in six power play opportunities (7:23), and are now six-for-15 (40.0%) on the man advantage in the last three games.

Henrik Lundqvist stopped 34 of 36 shots and is now 23-22-6 on the season, including a 12-14-4 mark at MSG; he has now held opponents to two or fewer goals in 22 of his last 29 games dating back to a 2-1 win at Buffalo on Dec. 5, posting a 12-12-5 record, along with a 2.32 goals against average, a .922 save percentage and one shutout over the span.

Rangers Alternate Captain Vinny Prospal notched a five-on-three power play goal and a career-high nine shots on net in 21:23 of icetime; the nine shots are also a Rangers season-high, and the most by a Blueshirt in a single-game since Scott Gomez registered nine shots on Oct. 25, 2008 vs. Pittsburgh; Prospal has tallied 11 of his 12 goals at MSG to rank second on the team in home goals, and has now recorded 12 points (four goals and eight assists) and a plus-five rating in the last 12 games.

Olli Jokinen recorded an assist on Prospal’s power play goal and logged 22:27 of icetime; he has now registered five points (one goal and four assists) in his last six games, and three points (one goal and two assists) in four games as a Ranger.

Rangers Alternate Captain Ryan Callahan led all skaters with six hits and logged a career-high 27:00 of icetime.

The Blueshirts practice schedule for tomorrow, Feb. 11, is 12:00 p.m. at the MSG Training Center.

The Rangers return to action when they will face-off against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday, Feb. 12, at Mellon Arena (7:30 p.m.), in a matchup between Atlantic Division opponents; the game will be televised live on MSG Network and can be heard on 1050 ESPN Radio.

POST-GAME QUOTES

John Tortorella on the team…

“When you are trying to crawl out of a hole and trying to gain some consistency in your game, your structure of your team concept and your discipline, at all times, at this time of year, is so important.  We are not good enough not to be dead on with that stuff there.”

Henrik Lundqvist on his play…

“I felt good.  There were a lot of breakaways tonight.  They created a lot around the net.  I knew, going into the game, I can’t afford any mistakes.  I think the D played really well around the net.  It is really tough.  We play as good as we can in our end, still let up a couple of breakaways, but I still think we played pretty good in our end.  It comes down to scoring.  You can see how you feed off of a goal.  As you score we get energy and some speed but then they score and we lose that energy a little bit.”

Chris Drury on the team…

“We have just been trying to play the right way. We have been playing the right way for the most part. It’s just such a fine line in this League, the smallest little mistake, whether it’s a penalty or just not finishing a great chance, or just the bounce of the puck can cost you the game and can get you spinning in the wrong direction.”

For more information contact Bob Trainor at [email protected].