Rangers coach John Tortorella is upset that his goalies have become targets in the net.

Predictably, Tortorella has been vocal on the subject, telling reporters after New York goalie Henrik Lundqvist was manhandled by Toronto on Saturday that if officials don't take care of the problem, ``We'll have to take care of it our way.''

Buffalo goalie Ryan Miller was clobbered last Friday against the Islanders. Miller compared being hit by Tim Jackman as something out of professional wrestling. ``Just a good old-fashioned WWF knee-drop to the back,'' Miller told The Buffalo (N.Y.) News. Jackman faced the music as Buffalo's Paul Gaustad took umbrage and fought him.

The Panthers know the issue of goalie protection has been a hot topic the past few days because of Tortorella's loud complaints as well as the visual of Miller's take-down. But by and large, the Panthers don't think it's something to get worked up about yet. Of course, Florida's goalies haven't had to deal with the issue too much.

``There has been a little more contact in the crease as play has been going on,'' said Scott Clemmensen, who will start Wednesday when Miller and the Sabres visit BankAtlantic Center.

``There's a lot of contact in front of the net. I would like to see some of those reviewed and not just called outright goals. I think if it happens more, it will be addressed in the future. It's too early in the season to be a problem yet.''

GETTING FIRED UP

Panthers goalie coach Robb Tallas said sometimes the physical play can ``put a goalie in the game'' mentally and get him fired up. If a big-name goalie were to be injured after being hit in the crease, then the officials might be put on notice to start policing things a lot more tightly.

``There haven't been many injuries resulting from this, so if it stays that way, it's part of the game,'' said Tallas, who spent parts of five seasons in the NHL as a goalie. ``The refs see what happens. If a guy makes no effort to stop when he's driving the net and comes through the crease -- and there are guys who do it a lot -- the league's going to have to start calling it.''

By and large, most hockey players are respectful of the goalie playing the puck. Tallas pointed out that goalies are fair game when outside the crease, but a majority of players skate around instead of taking a cheap hit. One reason is players know how valuable goalies are and don't want the opposition taking liberties with their puck-stoppers.

A lot of the physical play involving goalies comes when players crowd around the net and try to jam the puck home. Many times, a goalie's teammate will shove an opposing player into him during the jostling. Other times, goalies get run over when players come into the opposing zone crashing the net -- as they are taught to do -- and can't stop in time. And with new rules, defensemen can't slow opposing players without drawing a penalty.

``Goaltenders are so good and scoring is such a priority that every coach is preaching create traffic in front of the net,'' Florida coach Pete DeBoer said. ``When you create traffic, you'll get some collisions and incidental contact because guys are going to that spot of the rink. It's a fine line. I hope we don't overreact and start calling everything. I think [the NHL] has been good about that, letting guys play and get to the net.''

CREATING TRAFFIC

In Friday's win over Philadelphia, the Panthers finally got players down low, and it paid dividends when Nathan Horton deflected a Jordan Leopold shot and scored.

``We're trying to get in there and create traffic because the goalies we see are pretty good,'' Horton said. ``If they see the puck, they're going to stop it.

``A lot of the goals now come from in front of the net. We're trying to do more of that.''

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