Lightning/NHL

Ranger keeps emotions, foes in check

By DAMIAN CRISTODERO
Published April 25, 2006

TAMPA - Paul Ranger answered the questions in the style he makes his first pass in the defensive zone - short, quick and with precision.

Asked to describe his first playoff experience, the Lightning's rookie defenseman said, "Awesome, incredible."

Asked to elaborate, he added, "I can't describe the emotions while they sang the national anthem in Game 1."

Ranger, 21, has been one of Tampa Bay's nicest surprises. He had a goal and 17 assists in 76 games and was plus-5. He showed poise, made good decisions, and coach John Tortorella rates him as one of the league's top passers among defensemen.

Ranger got better in the playoffs. He has two assists and his 18:47 average ice time is 1:40 more than the regular season. In Sunday's 4-3 victory in Game 2, Ranger played 21:57, 2:53 on the power play.

"I thought Range was probably one of our top two defensemen," Tortorella said Monday. "You find out about people in these situations. We have a tremendous amount of faith in him right now."

Ranger said he was nervous before both games but once the puck dropped, his instincts kicked in. The difference, he said, is the game pace: "The intensity is much higher. Everybody wants to get to the puck a little faster."

That plays to Ranger's strength.

"It's his aggressive thinking and wanting to make a difference," Tortorella said. "He doesn't want to make mistakes."

KEEPING TRACK: Marty St. Louis said he doesn't read newspapers much anymore. The right wing, who struggled most of the season to match his 2003-04 MVP form, said he believes some of what was written questioned his character.

"When people judge you like that, that will bother you a little bit," St. Louis said. "But you have to live with it and overcome it."

He is erasing it.

St. Louis might have played his best game of the season Sunday. He had two goals, including the winner, and his check on the much larger Anton Volchenkov continued to get raves from teammates in Monday's video session.

St. Louis said he wasn't necessarily trying to send a message: "The puck was between his leg. I didn't hear a whistle. If you hit him, the puck might come down and we could get a scoring chance."

Even so, he said, "I'm trying to spark the team, whatever I can do. Everybody is trying to accomplish the same thing."

"You need to take those opportunities to say, "Follow me boys,"' Tortorella said. "Those little things in games tend to change the mind-set of hockey teams."

BIG HITTER: The hit defenseman Cory Sarich threw on Chris Kelly in Game 2 was a reminder of how ferociously he can check. But between Sarich's improved positional play and a quicker game that makes positional missteps costly, such glass-rattlers have become rare.

Sarich said it used to be you could slow an opponent with a hook after a missed check. Now the thinking is, "I'd rather give up a big hit than a goal."

REDDEN RETURNS: Wade Redden , Ottawa's best defensemen, is expected to play. Redden missed Sunday's game after the death of his mother.

FOLLOW THE LEADER: Sounding very much like Tortorella during the season, Senators coach Bryan Murray and general manager John Muckler said Ottawa's best players have to be Ottawa's best players.

"That," Murray said, "is what happens to good hockey teams."

PROSPAL UPDATE: Vinny Prospal did not practice, but Tortorella said the wing, bothered by an undisclosed upper body injury, will play.

TICKETS: About 1,500 remain. They can be purchased at the St. Pete Times Forum box office beginning at 8 a.m. or through Ticketmaster.

[Last modified April 25, 2006, 01:08:16]