January 2, 2012
NHL Winter Classic 2012 Despite the Hype, Rangers’ Tortorella Remains Focused
On Monday, Jan. 2, the New York Rangers will face the Philadelphia Flyers in the 2012 edition of the NHL Winter Classic. If the Rangers win, their lead in the Eastern Conference will grow to three points.
On the other hand, if the Flyers win in regulation, the two teams will have identical records of 23-10-4. In short, the Winter Classic is a very important game for both teams.
After Sunday afternoon’s practice, Rangers head coach John Tortorella spoke about the Winter Classic to the assembled press, which included Bleacher Report. Tortorella made it clear his focus heading into the Winter Classic is solely on his team:
We just go about our business. We don’t change our game plan or do anything special against Philly. We just try to go about our business. And again, winning games and losing games, you win a game on a big play, maybe a big save; that’s what happens in our league.
So we don’t get too deep into it, and you know that, because we have always, we don’t spend too much time talking about Philly. We just worry about how we are going to play and do the things we think we need to do to compete in that game and try to find a way to win it.
The hype surrounding the Winter Classic is huge. In fact, of the five most watched regular season games since 1975, four of them have been Winter Classic games. The fifth, the top-rated game, was the Feb. 23,, 1975 game between the Flyers and the Rangers. That game was watched by 5.4 million people.
Despite the focus on the Winter Classic, Tortorella does not feel the game is anything other than a regular season game worth two points in the standings:
I think it’s great for our game, I do. It’s great for our league but as a coach, I’m thinking about one thing. It’s a division opponent; it’s two points, and we want to win the hockey game. That’s all we are concerned about right now.
On Monday afternoon, when the Flyers and Rangers take the ice, both teams can focus on one thing: getting those two valuable points that are on the line.
Read more NHL news on BleacherReport.com
Related posts:
- 2012 NHL Winter Classic: Potential Rangers Winter Classic Jersey Pops Up on Web
- NHL Rumors: Have the New York Rangers Found Their 2012 Winter Classic Jerseys?
- Winter Classic 2012: Rangers Will Destroy Flyers and Validate Stanley Cup Hype
- Winter Classic 2012: Empire State Building Lit in Rangers’ and Flyers’ Colors
- NHL Winter Classic 2012: 10 Key Ways for the NY Rangers to Beat the Flyers
