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A New Season
by Patrick Hoffman on 02/20/09 at 10:45 AM ET
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When the New York Rangers beat the New York Islanders on Wednesday night, Rangers’ netminder Henrik Lundqvist said it was a good start to the new season.
It’s a good thing that the Blueshirts are looking at this as a new season since more than halfway through this 2008-09 campaign, a season that has been mired with a lack of scoring, a lack of finish, a terrible power play and overall, inconsistency.
This weekend, the team looks to continue its perfect new season with games against the Buffalo Sabres (tomorrow night in Buffalo) and Toronto Maple Leafs (Sunday night at the Garden). To pick up four points, the team will need to do the following:
- Get strong play from their top players. On Wednesday night, the team got solid play from both Scott Gomez and Chris Drury. It was probably one of the first times all season that they both played well in the same game. Now, they have to be able to do it again to show that it wasn’t a fluke.
- Get strong play from Wade Redden. For a guy that has a long contract with the team, he’s been horrible. He gives up the puck, he allows guys to blow right buy him and has appeared flustered at times. On Wednesday night, however, he was a lot better. He was confident with the puck, made good outlet passes, gave hits, took hits and looked every bit the player he was earlier in his career with the Ottawa Senators. If there was ever time to earn your large salary, now would be the perfect time.
- Protect Lundqvist and Stephen Valiquette. If the team allows Lundqvist and Valiquette to see the puck, clear rebounds, and move guys from in front of the net, the team will get the goaltending it needs to pick up four crucial points.
These games won’t be easy but picking up at least three out of four points is very possible.
Filed in: | Goal Line Report | Permalink
Tags: Buffalo+Sabres, Chris+Drury, Henrik+Lundqvist, New+York+Islanders, New+York+Rangers, Scott+Gomez, Stephen+Valiquette, Toronto+Maple+Leafs, Wade+Redden,
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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 .