Goal Line Report
Entries with the tag: Atlanta+Thrashers
The Perfect Description
by Patrick Hoffman on 11/13/09 at 11:49 AM ET
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Sitting down at my computer this morning, I was trying to figure out how to describe last night’s performance by the New York Rangers against the Atlanta Thrashers.
Why did they lose? Who played well despite the loss? Who played poorly in the losing effort? Why did Henrik Lundqvist have to allow that fourth goal?
As it turns out, Scott over at Scotty Hockey describe the team’s loss perfectly:
Don’t let the 5-3 scoreline or the 36-27 shot total fool you, the Rangers were dominated tonight by the Atlanta Thrashers. Yep, the Atlanta Thrashers.
It was atrocious, and yet the Blueshirts were a post and a crossbar away from winning the game. I guess that is a good thing, but walking out of the Garden I don’t feel the least bit good about the Ranger performance. Atlanta kept them bottled up in their own end for long stretches, had little trouble breaking up most Ranger rushes and kept the shots away from the danger zones. You would think that after finally getting a few days off to practice the Rangers would be better, not worse. You would think that.
Efforts like this make you wonder if the team has tuned out Tortorella already or simply have no clue or capability to play his hard-nosed, open ice hockey. The slot remains empty with no one paying the price to go to the net, the defense isn’t helping the offense and isn’t playing defense, and players are passing up good shots while taking bad ones.
Click here for more from Scotty.
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Tags: Atlanta+Thrashers, New+York+Rangers,
Dreaming about Kovalchuk
by Patrick Hoffman on 05/05/09 at 09:00 PM ET
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From Steve Zipay at Blue Notes:
So, they’d want a forward and a prospect and a pick, at least. Zherdev? I’d do it.
Dubinsky? Tough call, but yes. Anisimov? Hmm. Not all three. Grachev? No.But where’s the money coming from? The Rangers have to clear some more space. The $4 mil from Naslund helps, but isn’t enough.
Click here for more.
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Tags: Atlanta+Thrashers, Illya+Kovalchuk, New+York+Rangers,
All Eyes on The King
by Patrick Hoffman on 04/14/09 at 09:35 AM ET
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When the puck drops tomorrow night at the Verizon Center, all eyes will turn to New York Rangers netminder Henrik Lundqvist as the Blueshirts take on the Washington Capitals in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
If the Blueshirts are going to advance to the next round, the “King” will need to be at his best when he faces the likes of offensive machines Alex Ovechkin (56 goals, 54 assists, 110 points), Nicklas Backstrom (22 goals, 66 assists, 88 points), Alexander Semin (34 goals, 45 assists, 79 points) and stud defenseman Mike Green (31 goals, 42 assists, 73 points).
Lundqvist will face pucks from all angles and will have to steal at least one of the first two games of the series if the team wants to give themselves any kind of shot when the series shifts back to Madison Square Garden.
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Tags: Alexander+Semin, Alex+Ovechkin, Atlanta+Thrashers, Henrik+Lundqvist, John+Tortorella, Mike+Green, New+Jersey+Devils, New+York+Rangers, Nicklas+Backstrom, Washington+Capitals,
Biggest Game of The Year
by Patrick Hoffman on 04/06/09 at 10:25 AM ET
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Tomorrow night will mark the New York Rangers’ biggest game of the season to date. After the Florida Panthers beat the Pittsburgh Penguins last night, the blueshirts find themselves tied for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference with 89 points.
With three games to go in the regular season, their uphill battle will continue tomorrow night when they take on the Montreal Canadiens, a team that is seventh in the conference with 92 points and is catching fire at the right time (5-3-2 in their last 10 games). The Rangers can beat the Canadiens but again, with the tension mounting and the games becoming more and more important by the day, it is not going to be an easy task.
The team has games with the Habs and Philadelphia Flyers (two) to determine whether or not this year’s Rangers will clinch a playoff spot for the fourth consecutive season. The Panthers, on the other hand, have games against the Flyers, Atlanta Thrashers, and Washington Capitals. Both teams have competitive schedules but now, it will come down to just three games to determine who gets the last playoff spot in the conference.
The team has no one to blame but themselves for being in this situation. Problems with consistency, the power play, line juggling, personnel changes, etc. have all contributed to the team’s issues this season. Now, however, is the time to put those off to the side and go out there and get the job done because the last thing the team wants to do is miss the playoffs and disappoint the thousands of Ranger fans that will be at the Garden both tomorrow night against the Habs and Thursday night against the Flyers.
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Tags: Atlanta+Thrashers, Eastern+Conference, Florida+Panthers, Montreal+Canadiens, New+York+Rangers, Philadelphia+Flyers, Pittsburgh+Penguins, Washington+Capitals,
Some Gloomy Rangers Reading
by Patrick Hoffman on 04/03/09 at 09:45 AM ET
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With a tough game against the Boston Bruins slated for tomorrow afternoon, the New York Rangers are in an extremely difficult position.
If the Florida Panthers beat the Atlanta Thrashers tonight, they will be tied for the 8th spot in the Eastern Conference and should the Rangers lose tomorrow afternoon and the Panthers win again on Sunday evening against the Pittsburgh Penguins, they’ll be in ninth place heading into the final week of the regular season.
For more on last night’s 4-2 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes, check out the following links:
- Scotty Hockey
- Ranger Rants
- SNY Rangers Blog
- New York Post
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Tags: Atlanta+Thrashers, Boston+Bruins, Carolina+Hurricanes, Eastern+Conference, Florida+Panthers, New+York+Post, New+York+Rangers, Pittsburgh+Penguins, Ranger+Rants, Scotty+Hockey, SNy+Rangers+Blog,
Where Are They Going?
by Patrick Hoffman on 03/29/09 at 12:30 PM ET
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The New York Rangers dropped their second straight game yesterday afternoon in a 4-3 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins. The loss keeps the Blueshirts in seventh place with 87 points. However, the Montreal Canadiens are in the eighth spot just one point (86 points) behind them and the Florida Panthers are in the ninth spot just two points behind (85 points).
The Rangers showed some character by battling back from a two-goal and one-goal defecit while also killing off nine Penguins’ power plays. However, Sid “the Kid” Crosby’s great effort put the Penguins ahead midway through the third period, giving the Penguins a 12-1-2 record in their last 15 games.
As we’ve said on this blog before, the club’s remaining schedule will not make things any easier for the Blueshirts. Tomorrow night, they take on the Atlantic Division leading New Jersey Devils followed by games against the red hot Carolina Hurricanes, Boston Bruins, Montreal Canadiens, and a home-and-home series against the Philadelphia Flyers to close out the regular season.
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Tags: Atlanta+Thrashers, Boston+Bruins, Carolina+Hurricanes, Florida+Panthers, Ilya+Kovalchuk, Montreal+Canadiens, Montreal+Canadiens, New+Jersey+Devils, New+York+Rangers, Philadelphia+Flyers, Pittsburgh+Penguins, Sidney+Crosby,
A Waste of Two Points
by Patrick Hoffman on 03/27/09 at 08:55 AM ET
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As I mentioned in my blog yesterday, yesterday’s game against the Atlanta Thrashers should have been an easy two points. It was a game against a team that was in 14th-place in the Eastern Conference and well on their way to thinking about next season.
So what happened? The New York Rangers blew a three-goal lead and lost 5-4 in a shootout thanks to undisciplined defensive play and some poor goaltending by netminder Stephen Valiquette.
Through the first two periods, the team seemed to be doing everything right. They were getting contributions from their big guns, scoring on the power play, killing penalties and playing a sound defensive game.
Unfortunately, this worked for the first 40 minutes of the game and then things fell apart as the team missed defensive assignments, failed to score on a two-man advantage, and Valiquette allowed two soft goals to allow the Thrashers to get right back in the game.
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Tags: Atlanta+Thrashers, Carolina+Hurricanes, Florida+Panthers, John+Tortorella, New+York+Rangers, Pittsburgh+Penguins, Stephen+Valiquette,
Big Two Points Up For Grabs in Atlanta
by Patrick Hoffman on 03/26/09 at 09:15 AM ET
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On paper, a tilt with the Atlanta Thrashers looks like an easy two points but for the New York Rangers, every game is like a playoff game and as such, should be treated like one.
The team is coming off a 2-1 victory over the Minnesota Wild in a game where they played down to the Wild’s level. They were able to generate an array of scoring chances but once again had some difficulty finding the back of the net and were forced to play a tight defensive game, something fans are all too familiar with thanks to former head coach Tom Renney.
With that being said, good defense at this time of year certainly isn’t a bad thing but to win games, this team still needs to score more goals. Sure, they’ve scored more goals under new head coach John Tortorella but they need to do it on a consistent basis, something they have struggled with all season long.
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Tags: Adam+Graves, Atlanta+Thrashers, Boston+Bruins, Carolina+Hurricanes, John+Tortorella, Minnesota+Wild, New+York+Rangers, Philadelphia+Flyers, Pittsburgh+Penguins, Tom+Renney,
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.
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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,
All About Two Points
by Patrick Hoffman on 12/17/08 at 09:50 PM ET
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The New York Rangers hope to extend their win streak to three tonight when they take on the Los Angeles Kings at the Staples Center.
The Blueshirts are coming off an impressive 3-1 win last night over the Anaheim Ducks, getting goals from Chris Drury, Nigel Dawes and Nikolai Zherdev. The team also got another strong performance from their goaltender Henrik Lundqvist, who stopped 19 of 20 shots.
It doesn’t appear that the whole Mats Sundin situation is a distraction to the team as all they are focused on is winning.
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Tags: Anaheim+Ducks, Atlanta+Thrashers, Chris+Drury, Henrik+Lundqvist, Los+Angeles+Kings, Mats+Sundin, New+York+Rangers, Nigel+Dawes, Nikolai+Zherdev, San+Jose+Sharks, Steve+Valiquette, Steve+Zipay, Tom+Renney,
