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Rangers’ Tortorella: ‘Worst we’ve played all year’

New York Rangers v Boston Bruins

BOSTON, MA - JANUARY 19: Head coach John Tortorella of the New York Rangers coaches his teams during the season opener game against the Boston Bruins on January 19, 2013 at TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Jared Wickerham/Getty Images)

Jared Wickerham

There must be something about The Big Apple that brings out the best in the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Evgeni Malkin opened the scoring, James Neal gave the Penguins a two-goal cushion and Simon Despres put it away in the third period, as the Penguins rolled to a 3-0 victory over the New York Rangers.

While the Penguins celebrated, the Rangers lamented.

New York’s head coach John Tortorella called Thursday’s loss, ”...probably the worst we’ve played all year, collectively.”

The Rangers were without their captain and leader Ryan Callahan, who injured his shoulder two nights ago in a fight with Philadelphia Flyers forward Maxime Talbot.

“It doesn’t matter who’s in there,” Rangers blue liner Dan Girardi told the New York Times.

“I know he brings a lot of energy and finishes a lot of checks, but we have guys that can do that as well in the lineup right now.”

Penguins goalie Tomas Vokoun made 28 saves for his 48th career regular season shutout.

“I think we knew Tomas is a very good goalie and he has pretty good numbers,” Penguins head coach Dan Bylsma told NHL.com.

“He’s been a starter. We knew were going to get a guy who can come in and win games, win big games for us, and he’s done that twice in this building. He had two or three big saves that he had to make. He was great.”

It’s as if the Penguins can’t lose at Madison Square Garden, or to the Rangers for that matter.