Perhaps Chris Higgins is feeling a different kind of pressure in his native New York then he felt in the media frenzy of Montreal? The Left Winger is now pointless in 9 games and still yet to score a goal, making the goalless forwards: Higgins, Voros, and Brashear (missed 3 games). Tonight's come-from-behind Montreal victory left bitter tastes of the 5-0 lead the Rangers lost in '08, as Chris Higgins failed to back-check on Cammalleri's second of three goals; and taking a poor high-sticking penalty giving the Canadiens a 5-on-3 on which they instantly scored. These are the reasons why Chris Higgins sat on the bench for the duration of the third period, but he was not alone.
Brandon Dubinsky, uncharacteristically speechless to the press following the game, was alongside Higgins, centering the underachieving winger on the bench following avoidable meltdowns that cost the Rangers their third straight loss. Brandon Dubinsky was swooping laterally across the ice on the man-advantage in the second period when he could of much more-easily chipped it behind a defender or tossed it to a trailing team mate. The puck was chipped away, found Matt D'agostini's stick for a few quick strides up the ice before firing it past Lundqvist, setting the tone for the remainder of the contest.
A few notes to take from the game:
* Ales Kotalik's scoring success continued with his 5th goal of the season, scoring at a point-per-game pace that is nearly double the rate of his career (aka, playing like a $3 mil player).
* Michael Del Zotto's assist kept him well on pace to top the Rangers defenseman rookie scoring record (Brian Leetch). In fact, with assists to Girardi and Roszival as well, with Matt Gilroy adding his 2nd goal of the season, the Rangers are padding their top-scoring defensemen title nicely. Del Zotto lead the team in blocked shots with 5, while Gilroy lead the team with shots on goal with 5 as well.
* Ryan Callahan (0-0-0, -2 in last 2 games) has not been putting up big offensive numbers lately, although he sure is throwing the body around. He lead the game with 6 hits and currently leads the whole league with 48.
* Mike Cammalleri, who we identified as the best-possible free agent acquisition of 2009, scoring 3 goals and adding an assist. The top-line left-winger, possibly brought in to Montreal to replace Chris Higgins, is 5-2-7 in the last 4 games and shows a lot of promise with his mates.* Scott Gomez (0-2-2 tonight) is a great fit between Cammalleri (3-1-4 tonight) and Gionta (0-2-2 tonight). That north-south style with lots of tip-ins on the rush is difficult to stop and guaranteed to put up some significant numbers. Teams with a slow backstop will have a really hard time with these guys.
* Paul Mara has also meshed into the Habs' backline nicely. Although he might of been joking around when he said he taught Marc Staal "everything he knew on and off the ice" it is pretty clear that some of the big-bodied lean-in shutdown techniques that Staal applies were clearly mentored by Mara. Like the play Paul Mara had on Chris Higgins trying to break in. Paul Mara did very well with Marc Staal while he was a New York Ranger, but the role he seems to be playing as 'other' big guy on the Canadiens has been nearly seem-less of a transition.
Listen to John Tortorella's Post-Game (below), as he discuses the benching of Dubinsky and Higgins as consequences for failing to succeed at the aspects of the game away from scoring, which is required if they are not putting the puck in the net.
John Tortorella Post-Game:
MSG Post-Game:
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