John Tortorella said the Rangers are “getting healthier” and that it “comes down to a numbers game” when injured forwards get healthy, so that’s why the Blueshirts waived Sean Avery on Friday.
 
Tortorella spoke before the Rangers (22-9-4) took on the Panthers (19-11-7) at BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise, Fla. He said Henrik Lundqvist will start in net and the Blueshirts will go with the same lineup – meaning Wojtek Wolski is still on long-term injured reserve (LTIR) and unable to return.
 
Still, both Wolski and Marc Staal are close to returning from LTIR, and when they do, Wolski’s $3.8 million cap hit and Staal’s $3.975 million hit will come back on the books. Since Avery doesn’t play already, it doesn’t make sense to keep his $1.9375 million hit on the ledger.
 
Of course, the biggest debate is over whether Avery should play, and he has not for the past nine games, when the Rangers have gone 6-3-0.
 
Avery expressed a hunger “to prove people wrong” in one report, and reportedly his agent was granted permission by Rangers GM Glen Sather during the NHL holiday roster freeze to contact other teams regarding possible interest in a trade.
 
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Tortorella said he is concerned not only that the Rangers aren’t scoring on the power play, but that they are unable to generate any momentum with the man advantage. That’s why he said he “tried a couple different things” practicing the power play in Arlington, Va., Thursday before the team flew to Florida.
 

For the second time this season, the Rangers have waived Sean Avery, sending him back to the Connecticut Whale of the AHL as long as he clears waivers at noon on Saturday. It could mean Avery has played his final game with the team, since his contract is up at the end of this season.
 
The Blueshirts first waived Avery on Oct. 4 while the team was in Stockholm, Sweden, preparing for their regular season opener against the Kings.
 
“I don’t want to jam up Sean here - I think we have better players than Sean Avery, plain and simple,” Tortorella said in a small gathering with reporters on the second floor of the team’s hotel that day. “I can dodge it ten different ways, without trying to run Sean over. I thought he had a good camp. But I think with the makeup of our team, and some of the people we’ve added, and some of the youth we’ve added as far as depth put Sean in this spot.”
 
Once Mike Rupp went down with a knee injury and Wojtek Wolski suffered a sports hernia, though, Tortorella said he saw a need for Avery and the Rangers placed him on re-entry waivers on Halloween.
 
Avery scored three goals in 15 games from Nov. 5 through Dec. 10, but toward the end his minutes dipped sharply, and after a few bad turnovers of the puck in Buffalo, Tortorella sat him down for the next nine games.
 
The Bergen Record reported that before a 4-1 win over the Sabres in Buffalo on Dec. 10, "coach John Tortorella was angered when he found Avery’s mother and a family friend in the team’s dressing room."
 

WASHINGTON - The Rangers applied pressure in the third period Wednesday night while trailing the Capitals, 3-1, but when Ryan Callahan appeared to have narrowed the deficit, replays showed he had kicked in the rebound of a Brad Richards shot from the point, and the goal was disallowed.

It was the right call, but it also pushed the Blueshirts power play to one-for-its last 16, and 0-for-8 in two games since the Christmas break.

Richards, one of the captains of that lifeless power play, registered four shots on goal in 19:32 of ice time, but he was a minus-three and committed that crucial turnover that led to Alexander Semin's goal to make it 3-1 in the second period. Not only that, but check out this stat: since Richards' fluky backhanded goal in the final second of a 3-2 win in Phoenix on Dec. 17, Richards has zero points. Five games, zero points.

Before John Tortorella gave his morning skate interview at the Verizon Center on Wednesday, he stopped in the hallway to talk to Richards, who was standing near one of the workout bikes with Ryan Callahan. Tortorella spoke to Richards for about 30 to 45 seconds, appearing to instruct him on strategy for the night's game. It was a constructive, back-and-forth conversation between a few of the team's leaders and veterans. But clearly, whatever message was delivered then did not sink in at game time.

The Blueshirts also have fallen into second place in the Eastern Conference, after Boston defeated Phoenix, 2-1, in a 9 p.m. start. The Bruins now have 49 points, one more than the Rangers.

The Blueshirts will practice at the Kettler Capitals Iceplex in Arlington, Va. on Thursday afternoon before flying to Fort Lauderdale for Friday's game in Sunrise, Fla. against the Panthers. In the meantime, here are the postgame quotes from Wednesday's 4-1 loss to the Caps:

Jeff Woywitka has recovered from the sore left foot that kept him out the past four games, so he will go back in the lineup and replace rookie defenseman Tim Erixon Wednesday night when the first-place Rangers (22-8-4) take on the host Capitals (17-15-2) at the Verizon Center – a.k.a. The Big Phone Booth – in Washington D.C.
 
John Tortorella said Erixon, who has played 13 games for the Rangers this season and has been with the team on three separate recalls from the AHL, is headed back to the Connecticut Whale after Wednesday’s game as long as the Blueshirts defense is healthy traveling south to Florida for Friday’s game against the Panthers.
 
“If we find that we’re healthy - because we’re going to Florida after this - if we’re healthy after tonight’s game, he would go down and go play and not go to Florida,” Tortorella said. “If we were around in Jersey and the island today or tomorrow or the next game, he’d be going down (now). But because of we’re going the distance - and I want to make sure because not everybody’s healthy on our back end, that they can play – I just don’t want to keep on yanking him all over the place. But if we’re healthy, we get on the flight and we feel we’re healthy, he will go back down to the minor league team and we will go to Florida.”
 
If Erixon is sent down, that would leave the Rangers with 22 active roster players, two on injured reserve (Michael Sauer, Steve Eminger) and two on long-term injured reserve (Marc Staal, Wojtek Wolski). That open 23rd active roster spot would be necessary if Staal (concussion symptoms) or Wolski (sports hernia) were to come off LTIR and into the lineup, which is nearing for both players.