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Let the Games Begin
by Patrick Hoffman on 01/26/09 at 09:30 PM ET
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Tomorrow night, the New York Rangers will begin the second half of their season with a tilt against the Carolina Hurricanes at Madison Square Garden.
For the Rangers, the second half of the season will determine whether or not they are good enough to win the Atlantic Division title. For the team to do so, they will need to do the following:
- Score goals. It’s that simple folks. Being able to put the puck in the net wins games whether’s it an even strength, power play, or shorthanded goal. For this to happen, guys like Markus Naslund, Nikolai Zherdev, Scott Gomez, Chris Drury, Ryan Callahan and Brandon Dubinsky will need to step up and get the job done. And yes, it wouldn’t be a bad thing if Lauri Korpikoski or Petr Prucha were put in the lineup more often and as of this writing at least, it looks like they will be in tomorrow night.
- Get strong goaltending. It’s also a well-known hockey fact that good goaltending wins games. As it turns out, the Blueshirts have just that in both starter Henrik Lundqvist and backup netminder Stephen Valiquette, who will start tomorrow night as Lundqvist needs an extra practice or two after not having practiced in awhile. These two have shown in the past that they can get it done and this year should be no different, as the tandem is having a strong season in between the pipes for the Blueshirts.
- Play tight defense. This is a staple of Tom Renney, head coach of the Rangers, hockey. The team will do their best to score first and then focus on playing shut-down hockey. In the past three seasons, the team has been strong defensively in the second half and has helped the team to a strong finish. Hopefully, this season won’t be any different.
Yes, the team has struggled with consistency and yes, the team is extremely tough to figure out sometimes. However, they have what it takes to win the division and if they can have a solid second half, who knows what the future may hold.
Filed in: | Goal Line Report | Permalink
Tags: Atlantic+Division, Brandon+Dubinsky, Carolina+Hurricanes, Chris+Drury, Henrik+Lundqvist, Lauri+Korpikoski, Markus+Naslund, New+York+Rangers, Nikolai+Zherdev, Petr+Prucha, Ryan+Callahan, Scott+Gomez, Stephen+Valiquette, Tom+Renney,
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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 .