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The New Season
by Patrick Hoffman on 01/03/09 at 12:00 PM ET
Comments (4)
The New York Rangers will look to put up their second straight win tonight when they take on the Washington Capitals at the Verizon Center.
In the team’s last meeting, the Capitals overcame a four goal deficit to defeat the Rangers 5-4 in overtime thanks to the play of their fearless superstar, Alex Ovechkin. It was a real gut-check moment for the Blueshirts that showed them that they still have a lot of work to do before being considered one of the NHL’s elite teams, despite being tied for third place with the Philadelphia Flyers in the Eastern Conference, who each have 49 points.
In order for the Blueshirts to get back to playing consistent hockey, a lot of things have to happen.
For starters, their big free-agent signings of 2007 need to start stepping up. Almost half way through the 2008-09 campaign, Scott Gomez and Chris Drury have been rather quiet. They’re missing lots of scoring opportunities (only 50 points between them), looking for the perfect play too much and even struggling defensively as they are a combined -17. This needs to change now if the Rangers offense ever wants to really click.
Secondly, the team’s power play needs to start being the difference in games. Time and time again, the Rangers have been given power play opportunities to either take the lead, tie the game or add insurance goals and the team fails to do so at least 85 percent of the time. All the power play units need to do is throw the puck at the net and crash for rebounds. If they do that, I can almost guarantee you that they will score more goals with the man advantage.
Lastly, Rangers’ goaltender Henrik Lundqvist needs to get back to playing the way the team knows he can. Even in their 5-4 win over the New York Islanders, the “King” looked shaky and his stats over the last month (with the exception of his win total) have taken a beating. If he can get back to playing the way he did during the first month and a half of the season, the team should be in good shape.
And so it begins tonight with a game against the Caps, who are second in the Eastern Conference with 53 points and have won 12 of their last 14 games.
There is no better way to show the other teams that you are an elite hockey club than by beating the Capitals tonight.
Filed in: | Goal Line Report | Permalink
Tags: Alex+Ovechkin, Chris+Drury, Eastern+Conference, Henrik+Lundqvist, New+York+Islanders, New+York+Rangers, Philadelphia+Flyers, Scott+Gomez, Washington+Capitals,
Comments
Caps 16-1-1 at home and getting Semin back tonight. This one has letdown for the Caps and revenge for the Rags written all over it. We’re due to lose at home eventually and I think we’ll have a tough time matching the Rangers intensity in this one. Throw in a struggling Lundqvist due for a strong outing and I’ll say 3-2 NY.
Posted by eric from baltimore on 01/03/09 at 03:00 PM ET
With the way the Rangers have been playing this season, all the Caps have to do is show up to match the “Rangers intensity.”
Posted by K24 from NYC on 01/03/09 at 06:50 PM ET
There’s your complete superstar. Stopped a 2-1 in the first period, scores shorthanded in the 2nd after Valiquette robbed him seconds earlier.
Posted by eric from baltimore on 01/03/09 at 08:34 PM ET
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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 .
This years team looks a lot like the team that has the “FLY” line. Started off great but quieted down in a hurry.
This team is flawed and I’ll be surprised if they make it out of the first round of the playoffs… if they even make the playoffs.
The Rangers should have signed Drury OR Gomez… not both. IMO they’re both slightly above average players that were on lines with people that made them look much better than they actually are.
Posted by Adam on 01/03/09 at 12:21 PM ET