Goal Line Report

Practice, Practice, Practice

by Patrick Hoffman on 02/08/10 at 03:41 PM ET
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From Andrew Gross at Ranger Rants:

With the Rangers enjoying three days off between games for the first time since they lost in overtime to the Islanders, 3-2, on Dec. 26 then rested until being routed by the Flyers, 6-0, on Dec. 30, they are able to hold a couple of decent practices. After taking Super Bowl Sunday off, they were on the ice for 65 minutes today and will go through a full practice again tomorrow before facing the Predators on Wednesday.

In addition to some two-man rush drills, the Rangers also practiced as full five-man units as John Tortorella kept together his combinations from Saturday’s 3-1 win over the Devils.

Henrik Lundqvist, meanwhile, was breaking in his Olympic mask, a basic Swedish blue with yellow highlights and lines and a No. 30 down on his chin. Lundqvist wore No. 35 as he led Sweden to Gold in 2006 and in the Swedish Elite League but obviously couldn’t get that number when he came to New York. Now, he’s sticking with his Rangers number. Probably helps the marketing in the U.S. anyway.

Tortorella, who wanted to keep it brief with the media today in order to get into a team meeting, said the key for his team was to focus on the three remaining games before the Olympic break, not the Olympics themselves.

Click here for more. We’ll see if the team can implement what they have been doing in practice on Wednesday night when they take on the Nashville Predators at Madison Square Garden.

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A Different Perspective of Last Night’s Win over the Devils

by Patrick Hoffman on 02/07/10 at 11:05 AM ET
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Our good friend Scotty of Scotty Hockey had a different perspective on who the hero was in last night’s New York Rangers vs. Devils game:

Let the entire NHL hate Sean Avery. Let the refs grind their axes against him. It’s ok. Really. It is ok because New York loves Sean Avery and Avery loves New York. On a night where Henrik Lundqvist makes Mmmmaaaarrrrttttyyyy Brodeur look like a house league goaltender, on a night when hell freezes over and Chris Drury scores an important goal, it was Sean Avery who saved the day.

No, Avery didn’t mess with Mmmmaaaarrrrttttyyyy but instead he turned his talents upon Ilya Kovalchuk. New Jersey was pressuring and getting deep in the Ranger end late in the third period but Avery provoked Kovy and the Russian lost his mind. Both players got double minors (Kovalchuk should have gotten more) and both went to the box. That meant that Sean got Devils’ top scorer off the ice with less than three minutes to go to preserve a 3-1 win for the Rangers.

Were the Henrik Lundqvist glove saves monumental? No doubt. Was Drury’s goal a nail in the heart of New Jersey? Absolutely. But Avery being Avery was what closed another fantastic chapter in the Hudson rivalry. It was smart, calculated hockey by the super pest and exactly why love him in New York. Go Sean.

Click here for more on Scotty’s thoughts on last night’s big win over the New Jersey Devils.

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 Tags: New+Jersey+Devils, New+York+Rangers, Scotty+Hockey,

A Brief Interview with Millian of “The Blue Line: Hockey Talk Radio”

by Patrick Hoffman on 02/07/10 at 10:56 AM ET
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Millian, the host of “The Blue Line: Hockey Talk Radio”, was kind enough to take some time out of his busy schedule to talk about the trades that took place in the past week as well another thought on our favorite sport:

PH: What do you make of Kovalchuk landing in Jersey? Does the deal automatically make them Cup contenders?
M: Kovalchuk, IMO, is going to be a rental player, and I feel he is is going to see what the KHL has to offer. Not many teams will be available to offer $101M dollars, so there is definitely more to that story. A lot is going to hinge on what happens in the Olympics as well. One twisted knee and he is out for the remainder of the year, and NJD gave away players for nothing.

I worry about the Devils chances in general simply because of the amount of Olympians they have, including their star goalie, who has been having a rough time lately. With Kovy, they add another Olympian to that equation.

Also, I am not sure how Kovy is going to mesh with Lemaire, both in terms of playing styles and of butting heads. Kovy does not really play defense, nor backcheck, and I dont see Lemaire looking the other way too much. If he butts heads with him, Ilya has no ties to NJ, and therefore, no reason to stay. In the KHL, they will be happy to smooch his rump, and in my estimation, he will command near $20M per year.

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 Tags: Blue+Line:+Hockey+Talk+Radio, Calgary+Flames, Millian, New+Jersey+Devils, NHL, Toronto+Maple+Leafs,

Lundqvist Shines in Blueshirts Win over the Devils

by Patrick Hoffman on 02/07/10 at 10:42 AM ET
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The “King” returned to his throne last night as the New York Rangers beat the Devils 4-1 last night at Madison Square Garden.

Henrik Lundqvist was brilliant in making 41 saves and showed the team’s fans and the rest of the league that when he is on, he is one of the best netminders in the National Hockey League.

What was also nice for Lundqvist was that his team managed to beat Devils’ netminder Martin Brodeur three times as the Blueshirts got goals from Marian Gaborik, Ryan Callahan and Chris Drury. The three goals came in a span of 2:39 and for Lundqvist, it was really refreshing as he told the team’s Web site the following:

“It was big for us to score those goals that quickly,” said Lundqvist. “It changed the game.”

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 Tags: Henrik+Lundqvist, New+Jersey+Devils, New+York+Rangers,

More Attention on Kovalchuk than Ovechkin Last Night at MSG

by Patrick Hoffman on 02/05/10 at 01:45 PM ET
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From good friend of the blog Jim Cerny at Rink Rap:

Just 24 hours prior Thrashers GM Don Waddell had released information that Kovie rejected a pair of mega-deals---$101 million over 12 years, $70 mill over seven years---and was opting to head to UFA status this summer. As a result, Waddell announced that Kovie would be traded.

But to whom? And how soon?

Speculation flew around the press room at The Garden as reporters checked in with sources, shared what they had heard, and probably made up a few rumors, as well. I made a note to myself that it just seemed funny there was little to no chatter about the upcoming game at MSG, and Kovie’s name was mentioned a heckuva’ lot more than Ovie’s.

What followed was one wild night, just a great fun night to be a hockey reporter. The Rangers and Caps played an exciting seesaw contest where goals and the power play ruled the day in a 6-5 Washington victory.

Click here for more thoughts on the Kovalchuk deal.

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 Tags: Alex+Ovechkin, Atlanta+Thrashers, Illya+Kovalchuk, Jim+Cerny, Rink+Rap, Washington+Capitals,

Two Different Looks at the Hartford Wolf Pack

by Patrick Hoffman on 02/05/10 at 10:31 AM ET
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Good friend of the blog, Scotty from Scotty Hockey, recently attended an AHL game at The Rock in Newark, NJ between the Lowell Devils (New Jersey Devils farm team) and the Hartford Wolf Pack (New York Rangers farm team).

While he was impressed with how inexpensive it was and how the AHL is a great way to grow the game, he wasn’t exactly impressed with the Wolf Pack’s play, even though they won the game 3-2 in overtime. Here are just a few of his thoughts:

*As I mentioned, the Wolf Pack power play was pretty damn bad. They ended up going 1-7 with the lone tally coming from Brodie Dupont working the slot.

*Dupont was the best Hartford player on the ice. He went to the net, he carried the puck, he backchecked, killed penalties ... he was all over the place and his effort was exceptional.

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 Tags: Hartford+Wolf+Pack, Lowell+Devils, New+Jersey+Devils, New+York+Rangers, Scotty+Hockey,

More Positives Than Negatives

by Patrick Hoffman on 02/05/10 at 08:55 AM ET
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Last night’s New York Rangers vs. Washington Capitals game was a barn burner, eh?

The Blueshirts were able to put five past Capitals’ netminder Jose Theodore and yet, still came away with a 6-5 loss.

This was a game where offensively, the Blueshirts were clicking. They scored four power play goals, they put pucks to the net, went to the dirty areas to score and looked confident, something Ranger fans have not seen in the past couple of months.

This is a game that the team should definitely be able to build off of going into another tough tilt tomorrow night, this time against Illya Kovalchuk and the New Jersey Devils. It will be interesting to see what kind of offensive dynamic Kovalchuk brings to the Devils. It certainly will not make them any easier to play against. 

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 Tags: New+Jersey+Devils, New+York+Rangers, Washington+Capitals,

Some Thoughts on the Blueshirts from Scotty Hockey

by Patrick Hoffman on 02/04/10 at 11:41 AM ET
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With the recent moves the New York Rangers made along with their struggles, I figured now was as good a time as any to catch up with Scotty from Scotty Hockey to get his thoughts on what is going on in Rangerland.

PH: What do you think of the Olli Jokinen and Brandon Prust move? How do you think they will help the team for the rest of this season? What about in the future?
SH: It was a great trade, not necessarily for getting Ollie and Brandon but to get rid of Kotalik. Jokinen may or may not help. Prust will be an asset but not a game-breaker - neither one will be able to win the team a playoff series. As for the future, this trade was brilliant as Jokinen will leave at the end of the season and free up cap space. Then again, that may be a bad thing with Sather still around ...

PH: What was wrong with Ales Kotalik this season? Did you think it was wrong for the Blueshirts to pick him up in the first place? What was wrong with him?
SH: He is not a good hockey player. He is a one-dimensional soft European who has no concept or capacity for defense. When his one dimension doesn’t work he is worthless and as he is soft and not very smart, the softness turned him into a detriment to the team. Granted, he might have fared better with a coach that was willing to coddle him and put him next to Chris Drury - the player he was most familiar with and comfortable with. But good riddance to bad garbage.

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 Tags: New+York+Rangers, Scotty+Hockey,

Wishing We Kept Jed

by Patrick Hoffman on 02/04/10 at 11:05 AM ET
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With guys like Aaron Voros and Donald Brashear on the New York Rangers’ roster, wouldn’t it have been better to keep/have a guy like Jed Ortmeyer on the team on again?

Jed works hard night in and night out and is being rewarded with the San Jose Sharks for his hard work. He gets a lot of playing time, he kills penalties, he blocks shots and makes the right decisions on and off the ice.

Yet, the Blueshirts went out and signed a guy like Donald Brashear this season. How do you think this makes General Manager Glen Sather look, especially considering that Ortmeyer was once a Ranger not too long ago?

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 Tags: Jed+Ortmeyer, New+York+Rangers, San+Jose+Sharks,

Do They Have a Chance?

by Patrick Hoffman on 02/04/10 at 09:05 AM ET
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This game could not come at a worse time for the New York Rangers as tonight, they take on the Washington Capitals at Madison Square Garden.

As most of the hockey world knows, the Caps’ are the NHL’s hottest team right now, winning 11 straight games. The Caps’ will obviously be looking to feast on the Blueshirts’ tonight with their high-powered offense.

Unfortunately, the Rangers do not have anything close to match the Caps’ offense so if the team is going to win tonight, they will have to do it with incredibly strong goaltending from Henrik Lundqvist and a strong defensive game.

What would be nice is if Olli Jokinen had is coming out party on Broadway and lit the lamp a few times tonight while other players such as Marian Gaborik, Vinny Prospal, Ryan Callahan and Brandon Dubinsky also put the puck in the net. Obviously, asking for five goals is crazy but hey, this team needs to do whatever it can to win a hockey game, right?

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 Tags: New+York+Rangers, Washington+Capitals,

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