Goal Line Report
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Same Old, Same Old
by Patrick Hoffman on 03/20/10 at 04:29 PM ET
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Folks, we’ve heard all this before - tomorrow is a big game. It seems like the Blueshirts have been playing in big games for the last month or so and yet, are not coming out of them with big points.
Tomorrow afternoon, the Rangers take on the Boston Bruins, a team that struggling but one that is also three points ahead of them in the eighth spot in the Eastern Conference. If the Rangers manage to lose the B’s, a team that they have beat three times already this season, they would then be five points back of a playoff spot, making the remaining weeks of the season even more difficult.
After reading Andrew Gross’s Ranger Rants blog today, it seems that as always, all the players/coaches are saying the right things:
“It comes down to a Game 7 for us,” Brandon Dubinsky said. “We’ll be ready to go.”
And this from defenseman Marc Staal:
“I wouldn’t say it’s a must-win for the playoffs,” defenseman Marc Staal added. But it’s really close to that. Definitely you prepare differently just as far as the intensity. It’s not just one out of 82. It’s a big game.”
Again, we’ve heard all of this before but it has yet to translate to the ice. For one thing, their on-ice play needs to be a heckuva lot better and that starts from Henrik Lundqvist on out. As you all know by now, the “King” struggled on Thursday night in a 4-3 loss to the Blues and as such, needs to be a lot better tomorrow afternoon.
The defense, though they did not allow many shots, missed covering vulnerable areas in the zone and that led to some Blues’ scoring opportunities.And the offense, well, was the offense, missing key chances at key times, like the 5-on-3 power play they had in the third period.
So we’re left with tomorrow - a huge MUST win for the Rangers, something that will not change in the next few weeks. What does need to change is the team needs to stop giving away points and instead, pick up every single point they can, preferrably by winning rather than losing in OT/shootout.
What are your thoughts? How will the team play this weekend? If they lose, will the playoffs be out of reach?
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Tags: Boston+Bruins, New+York+Rangers,
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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 RLD Hockey, Rangers Tribune, and TheGoodPoint.com.
Prior to writing for the above mentioned outlets, you could find Patrick’s musings at hockey web sites/outlets such as TheHockeyNews.com, The Fourth Period, 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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