Let’s just say head coach John Tortorella does not have any use for the Capitals’ grousing regarding the officiating in the Eastern Conference quarterfinals.

“We get everybody and their brother whining out there in Washington about what happened in that series, and I think that’s a big reason why they lose that series,” Tortorella said, unprompted, in response to a question about the importance of playoff experience during his post-practice press conference Wednesday afternoon in Greenburgh, N.Y.

The Capitals were bothered by what they perceived was league favoritism toward the Rangers in the series. The Rangers had 28 opportunities on the man advantage in the seven games compared the Capitals’ 16.

Following the conclusion of the series, Alex Ovechkin told Slava Malamud of the Russian-language newspaper Sport-Express “The refereeing … you understand it yourself. How can there be no penalties at all [on one team] during the playoffs? I am not saying there was a phone call from [the league], but someone just wanted Game 7 — for the ratings. You know, the lockout, escrow, the league needs to make profit. I don’t know whether the refs were predisposed against us or the league. But to not give obvious penalties [against the Rangers], while for us any little thing was immediately penalized.”

Yesterday, Capitals general manager George McPhee backed his captain.

“I don’t think there’s a league conspiracy, but it sure didn’t feel right. Alex wasn’t wrong. I talked to them during the series, but at some point you stop. They’ll referee the way they want to referee,” McPhee told the Washington Post. “What we didn’t get a chance to do was go on the power play very often, and it was a real strength of ours. It was real good during the season. We didn’t get many power plays during the series; I don’t know why. We had to kill too many penalties; I don’t know why. I didn’t think that part of the game from the league standpoint was all that good.

“I didn’t like the refereeing, but if you complain about it during the series and you’re accused of trying to gain an edge. If you complain about it after a series is over, then it’s whining and sour grapes.”

Yankee Stadium hockey

The House That George Paid For With Taxpayer Money will accommodate hockey next January.

Yankee Stadium will host two games as part of the NHL’s Coors Light Stadium Series, the league announced yesterday. The Devils will host the Rangers on Sunday, Jan. 26, 2014 at 12:30 p.m., and the Islanders will meet the Rangers three nights later.

The Rangers will be the visiting team in both games.

“The innovative nature of the Stadium Series affords the opportunity to have all three NHL teams in the New York-New Jersey metropolitan area play, outdoors, at one of the most-celebrated stadiums in the world,” NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said in a statement. “We’ll be able to create a multi-faceted, multi-day experience for our fans, and we thank the teams, Coors Light, the New York Yankees and Yankee Stadium for their support of this memorable NHL event.”

The two games at Yankee Stadium are part of a four-game series of outdoor games sponsored by the beer conglomerate. Previously, the NHL announced a Jan. 25, 2014, game between the Ducks and Kings at Dodger Stadium, and a March 1, 2014 match involving the Blackhawks and Penguins at Soldier Field.

These outdoor games are separate from the Jan. 1, 2014, Toronto-Detroit Winter Classic, which will take place at Michigan Stadium. That game was scheduled to take place this past January but had to be postponed due to the NHL lockout.

Information regarding how to purchase tickets will be released shortly.

Injury updates

Ryane Clowe, Darroll Powe and Marc Staal did not practice. There was no update on their conditions. Clowe has not played since Game 5 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals. Powe missed the final four games of the series, while Staal only played in Game 3.

Follow Rangers beat writer Denis Gorman on Twitter @DenisGorman.

The post Rangers Notebook: Tortorella bashes Ovechkin, Capitals’ whining appeared first on Metro.us.

It is clear this spring’s Rangers-Capitals series will not be 60-minute long staring contests.

The Capitals took Game 1 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinal series, 3-1, in a manner decidedly opposite last season’s Rangers series win.

Unlike 2012, when the Dale Hunter-run Caps played to avoid mistakes, new head coach Adam Oates turned Game 1 into a track meet instead of the physical, grinding game the Rangers believe they must play in order to be successful.

Carl Hagelin’s wraparound 16:44 into the series gave the Rangers an early lead, but it would be their only goal.

The Rangers could not grow the lead, despite four power plays, and Washington continued to press. It paid off when Alex Ovechkin one-timed Mike Green’s rebound for a power-play goal at 6:59 of the second to tie the game at 1-1. Ovechkin’s goal was his 31st in 52 playoff games.

Eight minutes later Marcus Johansson potted the go-ahead goal on a semi-breakaway. Jason Chimera’s goal 46 seconds later ended the scoring.

The Rangers had a chance to cut the deficit to 3-2 late in the third, when John Moore’s off-angled shot hit Braden Holtby, who contorted his body into the cage. But replays were inconclusive and it was ruled no goal.

Lundqvist made 29 saves. Holtby stopped 34-of-35 shots.

The Rangers were 0-for-4 on the power play. Washington went 1-for-4.

Follow Rangers beat writer Denis Gorman on Twitter @DenisGorman.

The post Rangers open series with loss at Capitals appeared first on Metro.us.

The Rangers earned one point, but they left another on the table.

New York dropped a 3-2 decision to the Capitals in the shootout Sunday night at the Garden.

“I’m thinking about points. We get a point,” head coach John Tortorella said. “Would we like to have two? Yes. But we didn’t get it.”

Nicklas Backstrom and Alex Ovechkin scored for the Capitals during both the game and skills competition. Ovechkin finished with a goal and an assist. Braden Holtby made 30 saves.

Ovechkin slipped the puck between the post and Lundqvist’s pad for the first shootout goal. Backstrom ripped a laser that beat Lundqvist glove side for the game-winner.

“I only stopped two-of-four in the shootout,” said Henrik Lundqvist, who made 22 saves in the first 65 minutes. “I have to be better. You face really good players. I think the last one was a really good shot but Ovechkin, [I] felt like I had him but I didn’t get the stick down.”

Despite having lost consecutive games, the Rangers moved to eighth in the East. Arron Asham and Derek Stepan scored for the Rangers. Stepan scored the Rangers’ lone goal in the shootout.

“I’m not even thinking about playoffs,” Tortorella said.

One of the themes that has marked this Rangers campaign has been slow starts. Last night was no different as Washington jumped out to a 2-0 lead on the power of goals from Backstrom and Ovechkin in a span of 2:09.

“After they got the first one, we were stunned a little bit. We just kind of sat back and let them play,” Dan Girardi said. “Obviously we want two points but we need to get any point we can at this stage. But there are a lot of good things we can take from today.”

Following Ovechkin’s goal, the Garden denizens booed the Blueshirts viciously. But by the end of the period, the 17,200 in attendance were delirious as the teams went into intermission tied at 2-2.

Asham began the comeback with an off-the-rush goal to cut the deficit in half 14:12 into the period. The goal was Asham’s second of the season. Stepan tied the game with 1:57 left on a shot that pinballed off Holtby’s stick.

“I thought after the first 10 minutes we responded well — getting two goals and tying it after the first,” Ryan Callahan said. “We had chances in the second and third. We just couldn’t find the next one and eventually they did in the shootout.”

The game remained tied despite the Rangers having a 25-10 advantage in shots spanning the final two regulation periods and overtime.

“We just closed out defensively,” Girardi said. “We tried to keep everything to the outside, blocking shots like we always do, getting through the neutral zone and not turning any pucks over. When we are playing down [in] their end, it limits their shots.”

The second period was not nearly as wild as the first because the goaltenders stepped to the forefront. Lundqvist turned away all four Capital shots he faced, while Holtby stopped the nine shots he faced.

While the majority of shots the goaltenders saw were harmless, each team had a chance to break the deadlock in the second period. Marian Gaborik missed on a breakaway backhander with 8:19 left in the second, while Lundqvist stopped consecutive shots off the sticks of Mike Ribeiro and Karl Alzner with a minute left in the period.

Follow Rangers beat writer Denis Gorman on Twitter @DenisGorman.

The post Rangers rally, but lose to Capitals in shootout appeared first on Metro.us.

One of the greatest scenes in “The Godfather”— and one of the greatest scenes in cinematic history, for that matter — comes when Johnny Fontane, a struggling young singer based on Frank Sinatra’s early days, petitions Vito Corleone for help. He wants to be a movie star and he wants to be famous, so he begs Vito for assistance like a spoiled child would do.

Then, seemingly out of nowhere, Vito Corleone tells him, “You can act like a man!” and slaps Johnny in the face. We can only hope Capitals coach Adam Oates and Alex Ovechkin re-enacted this scene late Wednesday night in Philadelphia. Ovechkin was terrible in Washington’s 4-1 loss to the Flyers, flopping around the ice like he was trying to win an Academy Award, mistiming line shits and turning the puck over.

Well, by the second intermission, NHL analyst Mike Milbury had seen enough. He took to the airwaves with an epic rant, instructing Ovechkin to “act like a man” and calling his play “disgusting” and “unacceptable.” At one point, Milbury compared Ovechkin to a baby.

Ovechkin responded to Milbury’s comments only by saying that he “doesn’t listen to those guys.” Ovechkin signed a 13-year, $124 million contract extension in 2008. He has eight goals and seven assists (15 points) this season, numbers that barely put him in the Top 50 among NHL players. Not a very good return on your investment, Capitals fans.

Get your pom-poms out

Want to hang out with the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders this spring? Well, Living Social has you covered. The internet deal-finding website is offering an all-inclusive, once-in-a-lifetime trip to sit in on a swimsuit fashion show featuring the Cowboys cheerleaders.

The package, which includes round-trip airfare, three-night hotel stay and a meet-and-greet with the girls, was originally selling for $16,000, but Living Social has marked it down to $6,999 if you book now.

This is probably the perviest (read: most perverted) yet totally legal thing we’ve ever seen on Living Social. While we won’t condemn any man for shelling out big bucks to hang with gorgeous ladies in a tropical setting, it takes a certain breed to sign up for this adventure, right? Perhaps a basement blogger who has never talked to a real girl, or maybe someone like Steve Buscemi’s character in Billy Madison.

Either way, let the bidding (and background checks) begin. And if anyone out there reading this decides to jump on this deal, please email us immediately and we’ll let you write a blog about it. No, seriously, we will.

The post Playing the Field: Alex Ovechkin needs to ‘act like a man’ appeared first on Metro.us.