Goal Line Report
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Where’s the Spark?
by Patrick Hoffman on 02/04/09 at 09:14 AM ET
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Things certainly started right last night at Madison Square Garden when the New York Rangers raised Adam Graves’s No.9 to the rafters. It was a night filled with Ranger stars such as Mark Messier, Mike Richter, Brian Leetch, Rod Gilbert, Eddie Giacomin, Mike Gartner, as well as guys like Glenn Healy, Sergei Nemchinov, Tie Domi, Darren Langdon and Jeff Beukeboom, all there to give praise to one of their greatest mates, Adam Graves.
It was unfortunate that the current Ranger squad had to play afterwards because they put on a dismal performance against the lowly Atlanta Thrashers and lost 2-1 in a shootout. Yes, the team peppered Thrashers’ netminder Kari Lehtonen. Yes, Nikolai Zherdev played a tremendous game by generating many scoring chances. The team also got a good look at Artem Anisimov, who played well but needs more playing time to be effective. And yes, the team got a solid performance, with the exception of the shootout, from their goaltender Henrik Lundqvist.
However, it still wasn’t enough to be the second worst team in the NHL while also being a game in which they could have gained some ground on the New Jersey Devils as they lost to the Washington Capitals 5-2 last night.
What is wrong with this team? Why is it that in their last three games, they have scored just three goals (barely)? Why do they make every goalie look like the second coming of Patrick Roy?
The effort is there and some of the discipline is there but the team still lacks a lot of finish, which is surprising given that they have guys like Scott Gomez, Chris Drury, Markus Naslund and Zherdev.
So, who should the team go after? Would you consider going after a guy like Ilya Kovalchuk at the trade deadline and if so, who would you be willing to give up?
Head coach Tom Renney has mixed and matched lines all season long and has yet to really find a line that can be consistent. Something needs to be done to spark the team’s offense and it’s time to figure out what that is.
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Tags: Adam+Graves, Artem+Anisimov, Atlanta+Thrashers, Brian+Leetch, Chris+Drury, Darren+Langdon, Eddie+Giacomin, Glenn+Healy, Henrik+Lundqvist, Ilya+Kovalchuk, Jeff+Beukeboom, Mark+Messier, Markus+Naslund, Mike+Gartner, Mike+Richter, New+Jersey+Devils, New+York+Rangers, Nikolai+Zherdev, Patrick+Roy, Rod+Gilbert, Scott+Gomez, Sergei+Nemchinov, Tie+Domi, Tom+Renney, Washington+Capitals,
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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.
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Lehtonen is a good, underrated goalie. He has off nights, which are sometimes painfully apparent (Hey, Steve Weeks, if you’re reading this: ACTUALLY COACH GOAL ONCE IN A WHILE, OKAY?!), but you got a good look at him with a night where he was on. He played excellent hockey in a losing effort played in front of him against Carolina on Saturday night, too.
It’s painful to watch your team lose. It’s hard on me to have seen the Wings start their February slump early, just as hard as it’s been on me to watch the Thrashers be dismal this season.
The Rangers came out with motivation and intensity. They generated plenty of chances. They had over 40 SOG last night. They had a few that were almost certainly goals (and one that was). The Rangers didn’t make Lehtonen look like the second coming of Patrick Roy. Lehtonen made himself look like the second coming of Patrick Roy. I don’t know about the other games the Rangers played, as I don’t follow them too closely, but those guys last night weren’t playing against some unknown backup goalie called up from the ECHL.
Posted by Alan from Atlanta on 02/04/09 at 10:16 AM ET