Goal Line Report

Underappreciated

by Patrick Hoffman on 11/18/08 at 09:30 PM ET
Comments (1)

In the Rangers’ 2-1 shootout victory over the Ottawa Senators last night, players such as Chris Drury, Markus Naslund, Nikolai Zherdev (with the exception of the lone shootout goal), Brandon Dubinsky or even Dan Girardi were not the team’s best players. Far from it, in fact.

In my eyes, it was Blair Betts, Fredrik Sjostrom and Lauri Korpikoski that shined as they got the team back in the game by scoring a goal in the third period. Not only that, but they kept the game simple, something that the other lines have not learned how to do yet.

Filed in: | Goal Line Report | Permalink
Tags: Alex+Auld, Blair+Betts, Brandon+Dubinsky, Chris+Drury, Dan+Girardi, Fredrik+Sjostrom, Lauri+Korpikoski, Markus+Naslund, New+York+Rangers, Nikolai+Zherdev, Ottawa+Senators, Vancouver+Canucks,

Never Say Die

by Patrick Hoffman on 11/15/08 at 11:45 PM ET
Comments (2)

It was just four weekends ago that the New York Rangers were down 2-0 in third period and managed to come back and win the game 3-2 in a shootout over the Pittsburgh Penguins.

It was deja vu all over again tonight as the Rangers were down 2-0 in the third to the Boston Bruins, only to tie the game in the third period with 53 seconds to go and win it in a shootout thanks to a goal from captain Chris Drury.

Welcome to the new NHL folks.

Filed in: | Goal Line Report | Permalink
Tags: Boston+Bruins, Chris+Drury, Fredrik+Sjostrom, Henrik+Lundqvist, Markus+Naslund, New+York+Islanders, New+York+Rangers, Nigel+Dawes, Nikolai+Zherdev, Ottawa+Senators, Pittsburgh+Penguins, Tom+Renney,

True Test for the Blueshirts

by Patrick Hoffman on 11/15/08 at 11:00 AM ET
Comments (1)

Just over a month into the season, the New York Rangers will have their toughest test of the young regular season campaign tonight at Madison Square Garden: the Boston Bruins.

The Bruins are just three points behind the Blueshirts and are coming off an impressive 6-1 win over the Montreal Canadiens. They’ve gotten strong play from guys like Phil Kessel (7 goals), former Ranger Marc Savard (17 points) and from their netminder Tim Thomas, who has a goals-against average of under two goals per game and a save percentage that is close to 95 percent.

It should also be noted that the B’s are tied for the fewest goals allowed, something that could impact the Rangers tonight who typically don’t score a lot of goals on Garden ice.

Filed in: | Goal Line Report | Permalink
Tags: Boston+Bruins, Chris+Drury, Henrik+Lundqvist, Lauri+Korpikoski, Michal+Rozsival, New+Jersey+Devils, New+York+Rangers, Nikolai+Zherdev, Phil+Kessel, Tim+Thomas,

Rangers Burn The Devils

by Patrick Hoffman on 11/12/08 at 10:00 PM ET
Comments (0)

It took a period (the first period of the game) of undisciplined play, stupid penalties, being outshot 13-5 and outscored 1-0 to awaken the New York Rangers.

The second period began and it was as if a new team was on the ice and this team dominated the New Jersey Devils by scoring four goals on 20 shots, cashing in on the power play and getting back to playing defense the way they know how, all en route to a 5-2 victory.

Filed in: | Goal Line Report | Permalink
Tags: Chris+Drury, Dan+Girardi, Henrik+Lundqvist, Kevin+Weekes, Lauri+Korpikoski, Michal+Rozsival, Nikolai+Zherdev, Scott+Clemmensen,

The AHL: A Bargain for Great Hockey

by Patrick Hoffman on 11/11/08 at 10:30 PM ET
Comments (0)

For a person that has seen many, many National Hockey League games, it will probably come as a surprise to some of you that I had never been to an American Hockey League (AHL) game before, especially since I live within 150 minutes of two American Hockey League franchises: the Hartford Wolf Pack (New York Rangers farm team) and the Bridgeport Sound Tigers (New York Islanders farm team).

As I mentioned this past weekend, that all changed on Saturday night when I went to the XL Center (formerly the Hartford Civic Center) to take in a Wolf Pack vs. Springfield Falcons (Edmonton Oilers farm team) game. However, as you also all know, I wasn’t able to enjoy the game from a fan’s perspective.

Instead, I got to enjoy it as a credentialed member of the media, covering the game for the Wolf Pack web site and boy was the game ever good. This game had it all: speed, great puck movement, solid goaltending, a fight, and hard hitting. All in all, it was just as good as an NHL game.

Filed in: | Goal Line Report | Permalink
Tags: Corey+Perry, Dan+Girardi, Hartford+Wolf+Pack, Hershey+Bears, Jaroslav+Halak, Lowell+Devils, Marc-Andre+Fleury, Mike+Green, New+Jersey+Devils, New+York+Islanders, New+York+Rangers, Springfield+Falcons, Washington+Capitals,

Hartford Wolf Pack Coverage

by Patrick Hoffman on 11/09/08 at 07:00 PM ET
Comments (4)

As I mentioned in my blog yesterday, I was at the Hartford Wolf Pack vs. Springfield Falcons game as a member of the media, covering the game for Wolf Pack’s web site.

The Wolf Pack came out on top with a 4-3 victory in overtime, thanks to Lauri Korpikoski’s game winner (his third of the night for the hat trick) with five seconds to go in OT.

You can read my articles here and here.

Filed in: | Goal Line Report | Permalink
Tags: Hartford+Wolf+Pack, Lauri+Korpikoski, Springfield+Falcons,

Give me an ‘A’

by Patrick Hoffman on 11/08/08 at 05:10 PM ET
Comments (0)

No no, this quick blog update isn’t going to be about what you think it might be.

Instead, I will give you a glimpse of what I will be doing tonight and that’s covering my first American Hockey League game between the Hartford Wolf Pack (New York Rangers) and Springfield Falcons (Edmonton Oilers).

I will be covering the game for the Wolf Pack’s web site, filling in for Bruce Berlet, formerly a veteran beat reporter for the Hartford Courant and now the team’s web site reporter.

Filed in: | Goal Line Report | Permalink

Drury Breaks Out

by Patrick Hoffman on 11/07/08 at 06:00 PM ET
Comments (0)

This may be his second season as a New York Ranger but in last night’s 5-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning, Chris Drury finally broke out.

He helped the team’s power play break out of its funk with two goals with the man advantage. Drury also scored the team’s first shorthanded goal of the season.

All in all, not too shabby for the Trumbull, CT native.

Filed in: | Goal Line Report | Permalink
Tags: Boston+Bruins, Chris+Drury, Edmonton+Oilers, Henrik+Lundqvist, New+Jersey+Devils, New+York+Rangers, Ottawa+Senators, Steve+Valiquette, Tampa+Bay+Lightning, Tom+Renney,

I Hate to Say It But…

by Patrick Hoffman on 11/06/08 at 11:00 AM ET
Comments (1)

As a goaltender and someone who respects all National Hockey League netminders, I feel for what New Jersey Devils’ masked man Martin Brodeur is going through.

There he was, just eight wins away from becoming the league’s all-time winningest goaltender and just like that, he will be out for three to four months with a torn biceps tendon. For a guy that averages close to 75 games a season, I imagine that the next couple of months without playing will feel like a lifetime for Marty.

While there are those that think that this spells doom and gloom for the NHL, I actually think that it could end up being a positive thing for the game.

Filed in: | Goal Line Report | Permalink
Tags: Brian+Gionta, Henrik+Lundqvist, Kevin+Weekes, Martin+Brodeur, Patrik+Elias, Zach+Parise,

Lundqvist Earns A Star

by Patrick Hoffman on 11/03/08 at 10:10 PM ET
Comments (2)

The NHL announced today that New York Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist was the second star for the month of October joining third star Shea Webber of the Nashville Predators and first star Alexander Semin of the Washington Capitals.

To say that Lundqvist deserved this would be the understatement of the 2008-09 NHL campaign.

Filed in: | Goal Line Report | Permalink
Tags: Alexander+Semin, Henrik+Lundqvist, Shea+Webber,

1 2 3 4 Next »

Page rendered in 0.7832 seconds
Total Entries: 28053
Total Comments: 74133
Total Members: 1471
Total Logged in members: 1
Total guests: 112
Total anonymous users: 0
The most visitors ever was 1347 on 02/26/2008 02:41 pm

About Goal Line Report

The Goal Line Report will focus on all things Eastern Conference. Do I have a bias towards the Eastern Conference just because I am a New Yorker? No, but it certainly does make things easier! I’ll make my opinions known on Eastern Conference news bits (as often as I can), big games, hot and cold players, trades (I don’t make things up) and anything and everything else related to the Eastern Conference that I think is important for hockey fans to know. I will, in every sense of the word, be the beast of the East while also making sure to drop my thoughts on other hockey news items.

I, Patrick Hoffman, have covered the NHL since 2003 and have worked for a variety of hockey media sources including: Stan Fischler, Spector’s Hockey, TheHockeyNews.com, HockeyBuzz.com, McKeen’s Hockey, Blueshirt Bulletin, XM Home Ice Channel Hockey Blog, HockeyPrimeTime.com, FantasyHockey.com. NY SportsDay, and HokejaVestnesis.com.

For questions, comments or to talk hockey, feel free to send me an e-mail at .