Torts Aims To Teach The Rangers A Hockey Lesson Tonight At The Garden

TORTS' WILL VERSUS RANGERS SKILL

That's The Maven's Garden marquee message heading into tonight's rare confrontation. Here's why:

John Tortorella is preparing for the ultimate Rangers smackdown on Seventh Avenue. Like: POW! Right in the kisser.

You may say that this refugee from a New York Rangers coaching gig has some nerve thinking his motley collection of nobodys can even dream of outing the team I already picked to win The Cup.

That's the beauty part for Torts. His Broad Street No Longer Bullies were picked to finish dead last in the Metro Division and that gave him absolutely nothing to lose going forward. Man, oh, man, has he moved forward!

The Hockey News' sage, veteran Flyers' man, Wayne Fish, was a rare one to see the light.

"Tortorella is the right coach for this critical transition for the Flyers," Fish noted,

"because of his keen eye for talent evaluation."

The turbulent coach -- he treats $50,000 fines like it's Monopoly money -- has done a hockey-Rumplestiltskin; weaving straw into NHL gold.

"Torts has taken a collection of veritable no-names and is pushing them -- can you believe this? -- into a playoff berth," one scout opines.

He's not talking about McDavid nor MacKinnon. What he is talking about is team leading scorer Travis Konecy, the Lordship of London, Ontario who is at 30-31-61 and a plus-14. Not exactly a Breadman, would you say!

More like crumbs.

Want more anonymous attackers? Try 49-point Joel Farrabee and 47-point Owen Tippett. They're big stuff -- if you use a magnifying glass.

Let's face it; Coach John has laughed at adversity. He lost his top goalie Carter Hart and replaced him with third-stringer Samuel ("Slingin' Sam") Ersson from Falun, Sweden. And I'm not foolin' about Falun either.

You get my drift. Peter Laviolette's front-runners should enjoy a festive night with these one-time bottom-feeders.

We should get at least a goal from Breadman Panarin and maybe a pair from fast-rising Big Al Lafreniere. I expect him to up his 20-red light total.

There's only one issue -- Torts.

He's squeezed every ounce of hockey out of the Broad Street No Names and that's why they win when you think they're gonna swan dive.

Torts' will vs. Rangers skill!