Renney Knows Better Than Me

The other day I said a fiery speech from Renney could go a long way towards getting the Rangers into the playoffs. Instead, with the Rangers just coughing up a two-goal lead last night to the Pens, Renney called a time-out and addressed the team in the same mild manner, even-keeled tone that has been so successful for him since he became Ranger coach. And what happened, Sjostrom scores 44 seconds later restoring the Rangers lead and catapulting them to a 5-2 victory. What do I know?

John Dellapina of The Daily News outlines the timeout...

And when you blow a 2-0 lead before a grumbling home crowd with a couple of mental lapses in the first 3:11 of the second period, "it was probably tenser," Avery said.

So Renney called timeout to reassure his team.

"I told them up to that point in time, we had real good control of the game and we had a couple of minutes that weren't doing us any favors," Renney said. "That, if we got back to what we were doing earlier, we could control the game from here on in.

"'Keep your composure. Keep your game simple. And if you manage the puck properly, you'll manage both teams.'"

Sjostrom and Colton Orr came out hitting for the next shift, forcing the panicky pass up the middle by Ryan Whitney that Sjostrom picked off for a short breakaway goal.

...Renney is obviously around this team every day and knows what works and what doesn't. The way this team responded to the meltdown in Montreal and the lost weekend in Florida is a tribute to the way the players respect and respond to Renney. I need to remember that the next time I criticize Renney for not throwing the bench on the ice when the referee makes a terrible call against the Rangers.