INSIDE HOCKEY

For five Rangers players, coach John Tortorella, and two trainers who boarded the red-eye flight to the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, where the Olympic Men’s Hockey tournament begins tomorrow, it's an experience that will last a lifetime.

With Ilya Kovalchuk now in the division, it would be safe to say that the New Jersey Devils are now rolling right? Well, that hasn't been the case the past few games. Find out who's hot and who's not in this week's Atlantic Division Weekly with Seth Rothman

Inside Hockey's Seth Rothman explains why the acquisition of Ilya Kovalchuk instantly turns the Devils from frontrunners in the division to Stanley Cup favorites in his weekly Atlantic Division notebook.

Inside Hockey's Seth Rothman takes an insider's look at who's hot and who's not in the Atlantic Division and more for the week of Jan. 28th, 2010.

Chris Conner's two goals led Pittsburgh over the Rangers 4-2 at MSG Monday night. The Rangers' power play is 7/68 (10.3%) since December 19. Artem Anisimov scored twice for the Blueshirts, who dropped their third straight.

Does Rangers coach John Tortorella have the personnel required to win games? Or are the Rangers, as a collective group of athletes, incapable of even making the playoffs? Marian Gaborik's 27 goals leads the team, Vinny Prospal is second with eight.

Ryan Callahan scored two goals and added two assists for a Rangers team that head coach John Tortorella says is still searching for an identity after their 5-2 win over the New York Islanders Thursday night.

Each time the Rangers take the ice, the game is starting to feel like a must win. Once again, they failed to deliver. Patrick Kaleta scored a breakaway goal while his Sabres were shorthanded at 9:30 of the second, and the tally held up in a 3-2 win over New York Saturday night.

The Rangers, over the last month, seem to be doing just enough to lose. Sunday night at MSG, locked in a tight 1-1 deadlock with Detroit, they lost in possibly the most painful way possible when Dan Cleary’s shot from behind the goal line snuck through the pads of Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist.

The Rangers improved from their disastrous road trip -- during which they got outscored 14-5 -- when they took the MSG ice Monday night because they played a mostly-solid game defensively and got a good performance from goaltender Henrik Lundqvist. But, it still wasn't enough against the high-powered Penguins.

After the Rangers gave up two quick goals in the first 9:31 of the first period, John Tortorella used his timeout to implore his team to win on Madison Square Garden ice for the first time since November 1. Seven goals later, the timeout seems to have worked.

Through the first 21 games of the season, it seems the Rangers turn as their defense and special teams do. Sure enough, after allowing two power play goals in the first two periods, the Rangers made a defensive mistake that directly led to the game-winning goal in a 4-2 Washington triumph Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden.

Now may be when we see the true nature of this New York Rangers team. Now may be the time to see what kind of drive this team really has. Now will be the time when this team will either succumb under the pressure of the moment, or thrive, battling back from adversity.