Kukla's Korner

Goal Line Report

Entries with the tag: Dan+Girardi

These Guys Can Play

There is no doubt about it - Henrik Lundqvist saves his best games for Martin Brodeur and the New Jersey Devils.

Last night at Madison Square Garden, Lundqvist, who made 38 saves in his third shutout of the season, and the New York Rangers handed the Devils a 3-0 loss thanks to solid goaltending and timely scoring from Brandon Dubinsky, Dan Girardi and Ryan Callahan. The win gave Henrik an 18-6-4 record (regular season and playoffs included) against the Devils but as Henrik told the team’s web site after the game, he was just focused on picking up the two points.

“I am happy for this one because I made up my mind before the third period that I wanted this one, and it worked out,” Lundqvist said.

The Blueshirts knew how important this game was and that certainly showed in the first period as they came out and outshot their Hudson rivals 20-10 in the first period. They were relentless in their forecheck, put traffic in front of Brodeur, crashed the net for rebounds and were solid defensively, all marks of a playoff-caliber hockey club.

For the Rangers to keep marching on towards the playoffs, they will need to deliver the same kind of performance against the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday night and then again on Saturday afternoon against the Eastern Conference leading Boston Bruins, certainly not an easy task.

However, if last night’s game tells you anything, it should be that when the Rangers are on top of their game, they can be tough to beat.

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 Tags: Boston+Bruins, Brandon+Dubinsky, Carolina+Hurricanes, Dan+Girardi, Eastern+Conference, Henrik+Lundqvist, Martin+Brodeur, New+Jersey+Devils, Ryan+Callahan,

Four Big Points on the line this weekend and some Ranger Notes

With the Eastern Conference standings changing every day, every game from here on out means something for the New York Rangers.

This would especially be true for the two games they have this weekend at home against the Buffalo Sabres and the Ottawa Senators. In actuality, the Blueshirts should be able to come away with four points but since the Sabres are still battling for a playoff spot and the Senators are playing better hockey under their new coach, four points are certainly not guaranteed.

The good news? The Rangers are finding ways to win, getting their offense into high gear and looking like a team that deserves to be in the playoffs.

Other notes:

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 Tags: Buffalo+Sabres, Dan+Girardi, Henrik+Lundqvist, John+Tortorella, Marc+Staal, New+York+Rangers, Nik+Antropov, Nikolai+Zherdev, Ottawa+Senators, Ryan+Callahan, Scott+Gomez, Sean+Avery,

Underappreciated

In the Rangers’ 2-1 shootout victory over the Ottawa Senators last night, players such as Chris Drury, Markus Naslund, Nikolai Zherdev (with the exception of the lone shootout goal), Brandon Dubinsky or even Dan Girardi were not the team’s best players. Far from it, in fact.

In my eyes, it was Blair Betts, Fredrik Sjostrom and Lauri Korpikoski that shined as they got the team back in the game by scoring a goal in the third period. Not only that, but they kept the game simple, something that the other lines have not learned how to do yet.

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 Tags: Alex+Auld, Blair+Betts, Brandon+Dubinsky, Chris+Drury, Dan+Girardi, Fredrik+Sjostrom, Lauri+Korpikoski, Markus+Naslund, New+York+Rangers, Nikolai+Zherdev, Ottawa+Senators, Vancouver+Canucks,

Rangers Burn The Devils

It took a period (the first period of the game) of undisciplined play, stupid penalties, being outshot 13-5 and outscored 1-0 to awaken the New York Rangers.

The second period began and it was as if a new team was on the ice and this team dominated the New Jersey Devils by scoring four goals on 20 shots, cashing in on the power play and getting back to playing defense the way they know how, all en route to a 5-2 victory.

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 Tags: Chris+Drury, Dan+Girardi, Henrik+Lundqvist, Kevin+Weekes, Lauri+Korpikoski, Michal+Rozsival, Nikolai+Zherdev, Scott+Clemmensen,

The AHL: A Bargain for Great Hockey

For a person that has seen many, many National Hockey League games, it will probably come as a surprise to some of you that I had never been to an American Hockey League (AHL) game before, especially since I live within 150 minutes of two American Hockey League franchises: the Hartford Wolf Pack (New York Rangers farm team) and the Bridgeport Sound Tigers (New York Islanders farm team).

As I mentioned this past weekend, that all changed on Saturday night when I went to the XL Center (formerly the Hartford Civic Center) to take in a Wolf Pack vs. Springfield Falcons (Edmonton Oilers farm team) game. However, as you also all know, I wasn’t able to enjoy the game from a fan’s perspective.

Instead, I got to enjoy it as a credentialed member of the media, covering the game for the Wolf Pack web site and boy was the game ever good. This game had it all: speed, great puck movement, solid goaltending, a fight, and hard hitting. All in all, it was just as good as an NHL game.

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Filed in: | Goal Line Report | Permalink
 Tags: Corey+Perry, Dan+Girardi, Hartford+Wolf+Pack, Hershey+Bears, Jaroslav+Halak, Lowell+Devils, Marc-Andre+Fleury, Mike+Green, New+Jersey+Devils, New+York+Islanders, New+York+Rangers, Springfield+Falcons, Washington+Capitals,

     

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