RANGERS 101

The New York Rangers are on a two game winning streak, and have done so with center Brian Boyle riding the bench as he's been a healthy scratch the past two games for poor performance earlier in the year.

Head coach John Tortorella moved Boyle around the lineup, pairing him with different guys and even sliding him over to wing to get the forward going. Boyle hasn't produced, though, and will be a healthy scratch yet again when the Rangers face the Boston Bruins tonight.

He isn't happy about it.

#NYRangers C Brian Boyle on 3rd straight healthy scratch:"It’s infuriating sitting out, it’s awful. And it’s pissing me off a lot.”

— Matt Kalman (@TheBruinsBlog) February 12, 2013

The scratch comes with good reason as Boyle has produced zero goals, one assist and a minus-3 rating to start the year.

Tortorella said "Boyle hasn't done a good job killing penalties; I don't think he's done a good enough job blocking shots."

Those are two facets of the game that Tortorella values highly, and two areas Boyle excelled in last season as the Rangers went to the Eastern Conference Finals.

Perhaps the remarks from Boyle stem from the fact he won't be playing in front of his friends in family as he's a Massachusetts native and played his college hockey at Boston College.

Either way, his play is the reason he's earned the healthy scratch role and remarks like this will only put him further into Tortorella's dog house.

We'll see if the team keeps rookie J.T. Miller on the roster. If they do — and he's playing like he's here to stay — Boyle could remain a healthy scratch for a long time.

Tags: Boston Bruins, Boston College, Brian Boyle, Hockey, John Tortorella, New York, New York Rangers, NHL

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