Goal Line Report
Where Did The Goals Go
by Patrick Hoffman on 01/24/10 at 08:52 AM ET
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Another game, another night in which the New York Rangers get shutout, this time by a score of 6-0 at the hands of the Montreal Canadiens.
Since January 12th, the Blueshirts have been shutout four times. It started on January 12th when Martin Brodeur shutout the team in a 1-0 victory. A game later, the Rangers were shutout 2-0 by Mike Brodeur of the Ottawa Senators. A week later, Ray Emery and the Philadelphia Flyers shutout the Rangers in Philly by a score of 2-0 and and last night, it was Jaroslav Halak and the Habs’ crushing the Blueshirts by a score of 6-0.
This is quite a turnaround for a team who scored six goals last Sunday night against this same Habs’ team and who on Tuesday night against the Tampa Bay Lightning, had eight different goal scorers in a 8-2 victory.
So obviously, the question once again is where did the scoring go?
It’s not rocket science folks. This team has proven before that they score in bunches and then go quiet for a few games. However, with the Eastern Conference so tight and every point crucial as they go, the Blueshirts cannot afford to go through these goalless stretches of play.
According to Andrew Gross in his post game wrapup blog, here are some of the quotes that were said in the locker room after the game:
Henrik Lundqvist
“I don’t know when it went wrong,” Lundqvist said. “They’re a team, especially playing at home, that every line creates a lot of big opportunities in front. They’re tricky players. They just find open space in front. We just had a tough time to find our guys to bang them out. If you give them time and space in front, it’s going to be a tough time for us. I’m starting to think there’s something wrong with the water up here. If you look at the goals in the second, they did a good job crashing it (the net). They capitalized on it. If you’re giving up four goals, or three goals that fast, you have to expect something might happen. I’m definitely not happy not to finish but, at the same time, I understand we needed a change.”
Marc Staal
“I think they were stronger,” defenseman Marc Staal said. “There was a lot of stuff jumping around and a lot of pucks sitting around in the front of the net that they were getting second and third whacks at.”
The team will be back in action tomorrow night at Madison Square Garden against Atlantic Division rivals Pittsburgh Penguins. If the Blueshirts want to win, they will definitely HAVE to score goals considering the powerful offensive lineup that the Pens’ have.
Feel free to leave your thoughts on the team’s most recent scoring troubles!
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Tags: Montreal+Canadiens, 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 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.
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