NY Rangers head coach John Tortella’s brusque manner during postgame press conferences strikes some as amusing, though the New York Daily News’ Bob Raissman seems to side with Mike Milbury who calls the behavior, “borderline of just being rude.” “Imagine what the flow of information from media to fans would be like,” scolds Raissman, “if Joe Girardi, Terry Collins, Rex Ryan, Tom Coughlin, and the others, decided to borrow heavily from Tortorella’s media manifesto?”

His postgame performances suggest the coach believes he’s the smartest guy in the room. In a Valentinesque sort of way, Tortorella probably thinks he invented the game of hockey.

There is so much focus on him that if the Rangers should lose, either to the Devils or in the Stanley Cup Finals, Tortorella will be the fall guy, the scapegoat. He didn’t consciously make himself the center of attention (we think), but that’s what he is now. He owns the spotlight.

And the very way he’s performed in it, the way he’s made his postgame sessions (no matter how short) must-see-TV, may not have exactly endeared him to those asking questions and having them answered with stuff like: “Your microphone doesn’t work.” Or ,“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Or, “That’s ridiculous. That’s ridiculous.” Or, “Stop coaching, Pat.”

If the bottom drops out on the Rangers, how long will it take for those covering the series, those on the receiving end of belligerent nonanswers, to start wondering if the Rangers have become an uptight team, a mirror image of their tightly wound coach?