The best player of the night last night. Biron was a close second (Photo: Melissa Andus)

Now that I’ve gotten some sleep, well additional sleep in the comforts of my own bed, some thoughts from last night Rangers-Montreal game:

* First, some positives. The Rangers only took one penalty (and a weak one at that) and their penalty kill was probably the best part of the night as the boys had just as many chances shorthanded as the Habs did on the power play (one each). I won’t talk about the other special team, although I think special is a good word to describe it at this point.

Also, Carl Hagelin and Derek Stepan. Was Rick Nash making them better players or were they making Nash a better player cause they looked fine without him last night. Speaking of which…

* Rick Nash. I understand fans want to know why he missed the game. Heck, I want to know why he missed the game. But is Torts saying it’s an upper or lower body injury really going to make anything better? Better yet, if Torts says it’s a groin injury (something the NY Times is speculating it might be), is anyone going to believe him? Over 90% of fans have convinced themselves Larry Brooks is correct and Nash has a concussion and nothing the Rangers say is really going to change that. So he comes out and admits it’s a concussion? Then most of the fan base throws in the towel on the season forgetting there are 19 other guys on the team. It’s a no-win situation so what’s the difference if he says nothing at all?

That said, I would like for Torts to tell us something, a time frame if possible, just to stop the speculation. Yes I’m sure we’ll regret knowing if we did but the speculation I am seeing from across this fan base is worse than anything Torts could possibly tell us. (And that includes saying he has a concussion.)

* Brandon Prust. Yes he was a great player when he was here. Yes I wish he was still here. But he’s not and that’s good for him because there is no way, under any circumstances, he would be getting the minutes Montreal is giving him with Torts as his coach. He had a good game last night but I still say he is not a first line player…and Montreal is treating him that way. Mix that with the money and fact his girlfriend is in Montreal and it was a no-brainer for him to move on. I don’t blame him one bit. Now can we please stop talking about how he should’ve played for the home team last night?

* I really can’t find anything else to say about that game. It was horrible. I wanted to take a quote from last year and say both teams “sucked from head to toe” but I think that was being too kind. Every year, every team has a stinker. That was ours. Let’s hope they pretend that never happened and play like the team we know they are, whether they have Nash or not, tomorrow night.