Goal Line Report
Devils’ Late Goal Sinks Rangers’ Comeback Efforts
by Patrick Hoffman on 05/23/12 at 10:49 PM ET
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At the end of the day, it does not matter how many goals you allow as long as you are the team that has more when the final buzzer sounds.
In tonight’s Game 5 between the New York Rangers and New Jersey Devils at Madison Square Garden, it was Devils’ forward Ryan Carter’s goal with less than five minutes to go in the hockey game that lifted the Devils to a 5-3 victory. The Devils’ defense may not have been great but in the end, it was their offense that got the crucial goal to give their team a 3-2 series lead.
For the Rangers, it was the things that happened both early and late in the game that hurt them the most. In the first period, the Devils scored three goals on six shots (Stephen Gionta, Patrik Elias, Travis Zajac) to go up 3-0 less than 10 minutes into the hockey game. Then, in the third period, Carter scored the Devils to put them up 4-3 after the Blueshirts had gotten themselves back into the game and that was followed by a Zach Parise empty net goal with 1:32 to go in the hockey game.
Had it not been for those 15-minutes, this could have been a Rangers’ victory. Even when the club was down 3-0, they did not quit and battled hard to tie the game as they got goals from Brandon Prust, Ryan Callahan and Marian Gaborik.
The team was also able to take advantage of a somewhat shaky Martin Brodeur (25 saves) to get back into the hockey game. With that said, Brodeur battled to the end and made the big saves late in the third period when it mattered most and more importantly, he put his team one victory away from a trip to the Stanley Cup Finals.
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Tags: 2012+Stanley+Cup+Playoffs, Brandon+Prust, Henrik+Lundqvist, Marian+Gaborik, Martin+Brodeur, Michael+Del+Zotto, New+Jersey+Devils, New+York+Rangers, Ottawa+Senators, Patrik+Elias, Ryan+Callahan, Ryan+Carter, Stephen+Gionta, Travis+Zajac,
Some Nasty Moments in The Rangers/Devils’ Rivalry
by Patrick Hoffman on 05/23/12 at 08:43 PM ET
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From Patrick Hoffman at Sportsnet.ca:
One of the greatest things about pro sports is the rivalries.
The NHL, like all other leagues, is built on a plethora of great rivalries. One of these rivalries is continuing its epic history in this year’s Eastern Conference Finals.
Of course, this is between division rivals the New York Rangers and New Jersey Devils. This rivalry has produced a ton of great regular season and playoff games, goals, saves and memories.
In addition to the great parts of this rivalry, there has also been a fair share of the nasty. Dirty hits, wild fights, plenty of jawing and an overall hatred of each other makes the Rangers-Devils rivalry one of the fiercest in the NHL.
Click here for more.
Monday night’s game at the Prudential Center brought this rivalry to the forefront of the sports world. So it only seems logical to take a look at some of the nastiest moments this great rivalry has created.
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Tags: 2012+Stanley+Cup+Playoffs, New+Jersey+Devils, New+York+Rangers,
Looking for Answers Tonight in Game 5
by Patrick Hoffman on 05/23/12 at 08:00 AM ET
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Coming into tonight’s Game 5 between the New York Rangers and New Jersey Devils at Madison Square Garden, it appears that there are more questions than answers regarding the state of the Blueshirts after their 4-1 loss in Game 4.
While the Rangers were not exactly dead in their loss in Game 4, the team certainly was nowhere near its best. The club spent too much time in the penalty box, was outworked, outhustled and outshot and offensively, were too quiet to generate quality scoring chances against future Hall of Fame netminder Martin Brodeur.
Obviously, the team said all the right things both after the game and after yesterday’s practice but one has to wonder what the team is really thinking. For example, what is Rangers’ defenseman Michael Del Zotto thinking after his terrible performance in Game 4 in which he was the main cause of the Devils’ second goal by Travis Zajac and was also benched by head coach John Tortorella?
Another question that needs to be answered tonight is regarding the team’s offense? Where have the likes of Marian Gaborik and Brad Richards gone? While it is not fair to put all of the pressure on Gaborik and Richards to perform, these are the only two guys on the Blueshirts, with the exception of team captain Ryan Callahan, that can produce and put the puck in the net on regular basis.
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Tags: 2012+Stanley+Cup+Playoffs, John+Tortorella, Martin+Brodeur, Michael+Del+Zotto, New+Jersey+Devils, New+York+Rangers, Travis+Zajac,
The Script Remains The Same
by Patrick Hoffman on 05/21/12 at 10:43 PM ET
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This appears to be the case for the New York Rangers as the team dropped Game 4 at the Prudential Center to the New Jersey Devils by a score of 4-1.
For the third straight series, the Blueshirts will go into Game 5 tied with their opponent. While this probably should not have happened against both the Ottawa Senators and Washington Capitals, the Rangers certainly deserve this fate after the way they played tonight.
The Blueshirts came out extremely flat in the first period and paid for it. The Devils picked-up two goals (Bryce Salvador and Travis Zajac) and were outshot 12-9 in the process. Had it not been for the strong play of Rangers’ netminder Henrik Lundqvist (26 saves), the period could have been much worse for the Blueshirts.
The team also racked up 41 minutes in penalties. While it was good to see the Rangers play a physical brand of hockey, spending that much time in the penalty box does not help anyone and only takes your best players off the ice for an extended period of time, something the Rangers cannot afford to do on any given night.
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Tags: 2012+Stanley+Cup+Playoffs, Bryce+Salvador, Henrik+Lundqvist, Martin+Brodeur, New+Jersey+Devils, New+York+Rangers, Ottawa+Senators, Travis+Zajac, Washington+Capitals, Zach+Parise,
Time to Go Off Script
by Patrick Hoffman on 05/21/12 at 08:00 AM ET
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For the New York Rangers, this postseason has been a story of deja vu.
There have been many similarities in each round from the number of games played, to the goal scorers in each game as well as the general outcome of each tilt. While this is certainly interesting, it is time for the Blueshirts to go off script.
In each series, the Rangers have taken a 2-1 series lead into Game 4 only to lose both times to the Ottawa Senators and Washington Capitals, respectively. In fact, only once in this whole postseason have the Rangers been able to win two straight games and that was back in Games 6 and 7 of their first round series against the Senators.
The Blueshirts are coming off a game in which they were badly outplayed by the New Jersey Devils, except for a portion of the third period when they got two quick goals from Dan Girardi and Chris Kreider. Luckily, the team got a terrific 36-save performance from their goaltender Henrik Lundqvist as he made extremely timely saves against the likes of Ilya Kovalchuk, Zach Parise, Travis Zajac, Adam Henrique and others.
The Rangers were also very lucky that the goal posts were on their side on Saturday afternoon. The Devils hit four of them and had at least one gone in, it could have been a much different hockey game.
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Tags: 2012+Stanley+Cup+Playoffs, Adam+Henrique, Brad+Richards, Chris+Kreider, Dan+Girardi, Henrik+Lundqvist, Ilya+Kovalchuk, Marian+Gaborik, Martin+Brodeur, New+Jersey+Devils, New+York+Rangers, Ottawa+Senators, Travis+Zajac, Washington+Capitals, Zach+Parise,
Prust Suspended for Game 4
by Patrick Hoffman on 05/20/12 at 07:42 PM ET
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From NHL.com:
It appears as though the New York Rangers will be without Brandon Prust on Monday night.
Multiple media outlets are reporting that the rugged forward has been suspended for Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Final against the New Jersey Devils after his hit on Anton Volchenkov during the second period of Saturday’s 3-0 win at the Prudential Center.
Volchenkov was carrying the puck along the boards and chipped it out of the zone when Prust landed an elbow to the back of Volchenkov’s helmet. Volchenkov, was down on the ice for almost a minute afterward, but was able to continue playing.
Click here for more.
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Tags: 2012+Stanley+Cup+Playoffs, Anton+Volchenkov, Brandon+Prust, New+Jersey+Devils, New+York+Rangers,
Prust to Have Hearing Tomorrow
by Patrick Hoffman on 05/19/12 at 08:39 PM ET
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From NHL.com:
New York Rangers forward Brandon Prust will have a hearing with the NHL’s Department of Player Safety on Sunday morning after connecting with the head of Anton Volchenkov during a 3-0 win against the New Jersey Devils in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals on Saturday.
Volchenkov was carrying the puck along the boards and chipped it out of the zone when Prust landed an elbow to the back of Volchenkov’s helmet in the second period. Volchenkov was down on the ice for almost a minute afterward, but was able to continue playing. No penalty was called on the play.
Click here for more on Prust.
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Tags: 2012+Stanley+Cup+Playoffs, Anton+Volchenkov, Brandon+Prust, New+Jersey+Devils, New+York+Rangers,
Lundqvist Stonewalls Devils’ in Game 3 Shutout
by Patrick Hoffman on 05/19/12 at 04:46 PM ET
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Once again in this year’s postseason, New York Rangers’ goaltender Henrik Lundqvist was the story for his hockey club as his 36-save performance help shutout the New Jersey Devils in Game 3 at the Prudential Center by a score of 3-0.
Much like in Game 1, except with a lot more shots in this afternoon’s tilt, Lundqvist stopped everything the Devils threw at him in the hockey game. He was especially good in the first period when he stopped several odd man rushes and made a terrific glove save on Devils’ sniper Ilya Kovalchuk in close.
Lundqvist also made several big stops in the middle frame to keep the game at 0-0 in the third period. The Devils outshot the Rangers 15-9 in that period but again were not able to put one past the “King”.
Then, in the third period, the Blueshirts found a way to put pucks past Martin Brodeur, who, like Lundqvist, was also have a solid game between the pipes for his hockey club. Rangers’ defenseman Dan Girardi put the team up 1-0 on the power play just over three minutes into the third period when a Brad Richards’ face-off win ended up in the back of the net off a Girardi snap shot that beat Brodeur stick side.
Two minutes later, the Rangers found the back of the net again when rookie Chris Kreider deflected a Ryan McDonagh shot past Brodeur for his fifth of the postseason and a 2-0 Rangers’ lead. While the Rangers did not generate a lot of offense all game long (22 shots), they were able to score two goals 1:57 apart.
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Tags: 2012+Stanley+Cup+Playoffs, Chris+Kreider, Dan+Girardi, Ilya+Kovalchuk, New+Jersey+Devils, New+York+Rangers, Ottawa+Senators,
Heads or Tails?
by Patrick Hoffman on 05/19/12 at 08:00 AM ET
Comments (1)
That is what this Eastern Conference Finals series is between the New York Rangers and New Jersey Devils because picking which team will advance to the Stanley Cup Final is like flipping a coin.
On one side, you have the No. 1 seed Blueshirts. These Rangers work hard, block a lot of shots, play physical, get great goaltending from Henrik Lundqvist and yet, have not been able to take control of a series for three straight rounds.
On the other side, you have the No. 6 seed Devils. These Devils have speed, know how to put a net front presence in front of Lundqvist, have many two-way players, and have a future hall of fame netminder in Martin Brodeur.
This is why it makes perfect sense that heading into this afternoon’s Game 3 at the Prudential Center, this series is tied up. In Game 1, the Blueshirts rode a three goal third period and the perfect goaltending of Lundqvist to a 3—0 shutout. In Game 2, the Devils fought hard all game long, used deflections to beat Lundqvist and got great goaltending from Brodeur.
For the Rangers to win this game, a number of things need to happen. For starters, the Blueshirts need offense. Guys like Marian Gaborik, Brad Richards, and Ryan Callahan need to start scoring like they did in the regular season.
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Tags: 2012+Stanley+Cup+Playoffs, Brad+Richards, Henrik+Lundqvist, John+Tortorella, Marian+Gaborik, Martin+Brodeur, New+Jersey+Devils, New+York+Rangers, Ryan+Callahan,
An apology
by Patrick Hoffman on 05/18/12 at 03:37 PM ET
Comments (6)
Obviously, I am taking quite a beating for the article I wrote regarding the New Jersey Devils and their No Blue campaign.
For starters, I did not mean this as an offense to any Devils’ fans. This was an opinion article and one that may be I should have written very differently.
I guess what I am still having trouble understanding is why an organization, that has had attendance problems in the past, would want to keep a group of fans that has done a lot to make the Devils’ profitable during the course of the rivalry. In fact, many people call the Prudential Center MSG South or even reference it as another home game for the Blueshirts.
I can understand that the organization wants to have more of their fans in the building rather than having a bunch of Rangers’ fans. In fact, that is admirable and one that will more likely help home ice advantage.
With that said, that is still money that the team is turning down. I guess that is all I was trying to say.
Again, I am sorry if I offended anyone.
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Tags: 2012+Stanley+Cup+Playoffs, New+Jersey+Devils, New+York+rangers,
About Goal Line Report
Patrick has a tremendous passion for hockey. Besides covering the Rangers and the NHL for Kukla’s Korner, you can also find Patrick’s work over at Sportsnet.ca, The Red Light District Hockey Blog, NHL Home Ice, and Liam Maguire’s Ultimate Hockey web site.
Prior to writing for the above mentioned outlets, you could find Patrick’s musings at hockey web sites/outlets such as TheHockeyNews.com, TheFourthPeriod.com, Spector’s Hockey, Hokeja Vestnesis, Blueshirt Bulletin, SNYRangersBlog.com and many more.
For questions, comments and hip checks, feel free to e-mail Patrick at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
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