The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly New York Rangers

New York Rangers coach John Tortorella has called his team good, bad, and ugly.

After a shootout loss to the Atlanta Thrasher, he reportedly wanted to hang 'em high.

He says the Rangers are a good team when they find a way to win against teams like the Boston Bruins and, in a shoot-out, the Montreal Canadiens.

He said they were bad when they blew a 4-1 lead to the Thrashers, losing 5-4 in another shoot-out.

He described their one-goal wins over the Minnesota Wild and the Bruins as ugly.

Like Clint Eastwood, Tortorella is a man of few words when angry. He was angry after the Rangers shoot-out lost in Atlanta.

He prefers to have his big guns do the talking for him.

Tort's big guns are his penalty-killers, who are good, his goal scorers, who have been bad, and his power play, which is ugly.

The Rangers goaltending, with Henrik Lundqvist, is extremely good.

Sean Avery, the NHL's former No. 1 bad boy, has evolved, and the Rangers season without Tortorella and Avery is turning ugly.

The Rangers win-loss record since adding Tortorella, Avery, Nik Antropov, and Derek Morris, plus Micheal Sauer, is good, but not as great as the Pittsburgh Penguins.

The Rangers rep is bad since Avery joined Colton Orr to give the team more grit.

And the way opposing players, their fans, and referees treat Avery is ugly.

The Rangers fans cheer Avery's every move, which is good.

Opposing fans book him every time he steps on the ice, which is bad.

Referees ignore ugly hits he takes and give him penalties just for skating too close to goalies.

Since returning to the Rangers this year, Avery has been very good, but if things go badly for the Rangers, skeptics expect he'll do something ugly.

The Rangers have half a dozen games left this season. If they do well in the stretch run, they will be in the playoffs, which is good.

They might meet the New Jersey Devils, which will be too bad for Martin Brodeur, and if there's a rematch like the series that gave us "The Avery Rule," last year, things could get very ugly.