from Pat Leonard of the New York Daily News,

John Tortorella hasn’t given up on Marian Gaborik.

If he had, the Rangers coach wouldn’t have engaged his veteran winger in a 12-minute, on-ice conversation at the end of practice Friday at the Ice House at Carleton University in Ottawa in full view of teammates.

Still, Tortorella had Gaborik – a $7.5 million forward with one goal in his last 11 games and none in 27 of 33 games – skating on the fourth line with Taylor Pyatt and Kris Newbury ahead of Saturday night’s showdown with the second-seeded Montreal Canadiens at the Bell Centre, where the Rangers haven’t won in four years.

“We had a good conversation, but that’s it,” Gaborik, 31, said Friday. “That’s all I’m going to say. I just have to be better. I have to try to get out of this funk. It’s a frustrating time, of course. I want to contribute. I want to be better.”

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