Goal Line Report
Entries with the tag: Ottawa+Senators
Satisfying Start
by Patrick Hoffman on 10/04/09 at 09:37 AM ET
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Good morning folks. I apologize for not having blogged anything Rangers yesterday but I was busy last night at the New York Islanders’ game as part of their media staff. I know, I know...I’m a Rangers fan but if I want to make it in the game as a writer, I have to go with whoever is going to take a chance on me. Plus, it was great to see phenom John Tavares pick up his first two points in the NHL (1g, 1a).
With that said, however, it was nice to see the New York Rangers post a 5-spot on the board last night in defeating the Ottawa Senators. In catching the Rangers in 60 when I got home into the wee hours of the morning, it was nice to see Marian Gaborik pick up a couple of points in his home debut and see players such as Brandon Dubinsky, Michael Del Zotto, Vinny Prospal and of course, Henrik Lundqvist, all play a key role in the team’s first win of the season.
In his first two games of the season, Dubinsky already has four points (2g, 2a). I know that he got off to an extremely hot start last season but may be this season, he’ll be more consistent given the players he is playing with.
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Tags: Brandon+Dubinsky, Henrik+Lundqvist, John+Tavares, Marian+Gaborik, Matt+Gilroy, Michael+Del+Zotto, New+Jersey+Devils, New+York+Islanders, New+York+Rangers, Ottawa+Senators, Vinny+Prospal,
Another Blogger’s Opinion on Why Moving Heatley is Going to be Difficult
by Patrick Hoffman on 06/26/09 at 03:26 PM ET
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From Ryan McFadden at Blueshirt Banter:
It seems like Murray is refusing to allow the market to set the price for Heatley. The Senators need to come to grips with the fact that Heatley is not going to return equal value before or after July 1st when the $4 million in salary to him is due. Not in a salary capped league and not in a recession.
Every since the news of Heatley wanting a trade broke, I have been saying over and over that it is not going to be easy for him to be moved. I’ve beaten the proverbial dead horse saying that Heatley is not going to return equal valuefor four reasons:
1) They don’t have much leverage at the draft with the $4 million that Heatley is owed hanging over their heads.
2) That sum will immediately eliminate a number of teams from pursuing him until after July 1st when the amount is to paid to Heatley.
3) There is the limited number of teams which Heatley will accept a trade too.
4) The number of potential trading partners dwindles even further as some are not willing to take on a large contract during this economy.
Click here for more. I’m tired of all this Heatley talk. How about you?
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Tags: Dany+Heatley, Ottawa+Senators,
Two Out Of Four Ain’t Bad
by Patrick Hoffman on 03/22/09 at 09:45 PM ET
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Going into this weekend, all the New York Rangers were focused on was their game. They weren’t focused on who was in front of them, behind them or looking a few games down the road. The team was focused on the here and now.
Their intense focus certainly showed last night at the Garden as the team beat the Buffalo Sabres 5-3. Tonight’s game, against the Ottawa Senators, on the other hand, ended in a 2-1 loss, which means that the team remains in the seventh spot in the Eastern Conference.
While four points would have been great, the team should be satisfied with their play this weekend. They put pucks to the net, used their speed well, did a great job killing penalties (now first in the league) and were competitive in both games. Some other notes from the weekend:
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Tags: Buffalo+Sabres, Eastern+Conference, Jim+Schoenfeld, John+Tortorella, Marian+Gaborik, Minnesota+Wild, New+York+Rangers, Nikolai+Zherdev, Ottawa+Senators, Ryan+Callahan, Wade+Redden,
Four Big Points on the line this weekend and some Ranger Notes
by Patrick Hoffman on 03/19/09 at 10:50 PM ET
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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,
Avery Gets It Done
by Patrick Hoffman on 03/15/09 at 08:30 PM ET
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NBC promoted this afternoon’s game as “Sean Avery’s New York Rangers” against the Philadelphia Flyers. It was only fitting that Avery and the Blueshirts went out beat the Flyers by a score of 4-1, with Avery scoring two goals, getting into a couple of scrums and causing the Flyers to focus on him rather than on playing the game.
What’s more is that the Rangers actually scored three power play goals and once again peppered the Flyers net with 39 shots on goal and this time, were rewarded for it.
The win puts the Blueshirts in a tie for sixth place in the Eastern Conference with the Montreal Canadiens, a team they will take on Tuesday night at the Bell Centre, a place that has been a nightmare of sorts for the team the past couple of visits.
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Tags: Buffalo+Sabres, Montreal+Canadiens, NBC, New+York+Rangers, Ottawa+Senators, Philadelphia+Flyers, Sean+Avery,
Clemmensen Proving His Worth
by Patrick Hoffman on 02/15/09 at 08:29 AM ET
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When Martin Broduer went down with an injury in early November, many hockey pundits and fans thought that the New Jersey Devils were done. They weren’t scoring a lot of goals, they weren’t really winning and lastly, they would have to rely on Kevin Weekes and Scott Clemmensen.
Well, just over four months later, the team is near the top of both the Eastern Conference and the Atlantic Division thanks to timely goal scoring from the likes of Patrik Elias, Zach Parise, Jamie Langenbrunner, solid defense from Colin White, Bryce Salvador and Paul Martin and solid special teams.
However, one area that everyone is overlooking is the solid goaltending from Clemmensen. The 31-year-old netminder from Des Moines, IA, is proving to folks around the club and the league that he can play with the big boys and that ultimately, he can play well. Through last night’s game against the Boston Bruins, Clemmensen has compiled 24 wins in 37 games while posting a 2.23 goals against average and a .922 save percentage with two shutouts (both happened this week against the New York Rangers and Bruins).
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Tags: Boston+Bruins, Bryce+Salvador, Colin+White, Jamie+Langenbrunner, Kevin+Weekes, Martin+Brodeur, New+York+Rangers, Ottawa+Senators, Patrik+Elias, Paul+Martin, Pittsburgh+Penguins, Scott+Clemmensen, Zach+Parise,
Some questions before taking a break
by Patrick Hoffman on 01/25/09 at 10:30 PM ET
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Good evening folks. I hope all you hockey nuts enjoyed the NHL All-Star festivities this weekend. I particularly enjoyed Evgeni Malkin and Alex Ovechkin’s rekindled friendship, Alexei Kovalev’s hometown showing and a pretty high scoring All-Star game. Do I think that changes need to be made? I sure do but for now, I wanted to give the NHL a good old pat on the back for their good work this weekend.
I wanted to let you know that I will not be blogging much this weekend because I will be on vacation in Puerto Rico playing some golf. I am returning on February 1 (Super Bowl Sunday) and will get back to blogging on the 2nd. However, feel free to drop me an e-mail at to let me know what’s going around the league and of course, with the New York Rangers.
However, before I left, I wanted to get your thoughts regarding the league’s second half of the season:
- Which teams will round out the top eight in the Eastern and Western Conferences?
- Which player will score the most points in the second half of the season?
- Which player will have the biggest fall in the second half of the season?
- Which coaches, if any, will get fired?
- Will Pat Quinn be joining the Ottawa Senators at any point?
These are just a few questions that I have regarding the second half of the season and I’m sure that more will emerge as the NHL resumes play this week. Let’s hear your thoughts folks!
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Tags: Alexei+Kovalev, Alex+Ovechkin, Evgeni+Malkin, New+York+Rangers, Ottawa+Senators, Pat+Quinn,
Look at the Bright Side
by Patrick Hoffman on 01/19/09 at 02:35 PM ET
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Yes, yesterday afternoon’s 3-0 loss at the hands of the Pittsburgh Penguins certainly stings but look on the bright side: the New York Rangers picked up points in four of their five road games, including wins against the Ottawa Senators, New York Islanders and the talented Chicago Blackhawks.
The trip saw Rangers’ goaltender Henrik Lundqvist return to form, especially his statistics: 23 wins, a 2.54 goals against average, a .913 save percentage and two shutouts. These numbers certainly show why he is attending this year’s NHL All-Star game in Montreal.
The team’s recent road trip also saw Chris Drury come alive as well as the continued strong play of Ryan Callahan and Nigle Dawes. Hopefully, these three will continue to play well because they are the only ones that are performing consistently on an offensive level in the past couple of weeks.
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Tags: Anaheim+Ducks, Buffalo+Sabres, Chicago+Blackhawks, Chris+Drury, Henrik+Lundqvist, Madison+square+Garden, New+York+Islanders, New+York+Rangers, NHL+All-Star+Game, Nigel+Dawes, Ottawa+Senators, Pittsburgh+Penguins, Ryan+Callahan,
Another Shutout for The King
by Patrick Hoffman on 01/10/09 at 10:30 PM ET
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For the second time in three games, New York Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist picked up a shutout (his second of the season). This time, it came at the hands of the struggling Ottawa Senators in a 2-0 victory.
This was a game in which Lundqvist had excellent rebound control, was in position for both the first and second shots (if there was one) and more importantly, he gave his club a chance to win a hockey game, which they did thanks to goals by Brandon Dubinsky (finally) and a beauty from Lauri Korpikoski off a great feed from Nikolai Zherdev.
As a team, the Blueshirts were disciplined, tough in front of their own net and made the game easy for Lundqvist. When they do things like that, it’s easy to see why they would win.
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Tags: Bobby+Sanguinetti, Brandon+Dubinsky, Brendan+Shanahan, Brian+Elliot, Chris+Drury, Henrik+Lundqvist, Lauri+Korpikoski, Michal+Rozsival, Nassau+Veterans+Memorial+Coliseum, New+Jersey+Devils, New+York+Islanders, New+York+Rangers, Nikolai+Zherdev, Ottawa+Senators, Petr+Prucha, Scott+Gomez,
Will He Actually Play and other Ranger Musings
by Patrick Hoffman on 01/10/09 at 04:30 PM ET
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As Sam Weinman reported in his blog, the New York Rangers have called up defenseman Bobby Sanguinetti in the event that defenseman Michal Rozsival cannot play tonight after suffering a facial injury in last night’s 2-1 shootout loss to the Buffalo Sabres.
The question that both Weinman and I are wondering is what does this say about Corey Potter? Potter played with the Blueshirts a few weeks ago and did just fine and yet, when the team is in a bind like they could be tonight, they potentially look to Sanguinetti. Yes, Sanguinetti is an all star in the AHL and leading the Hartford Wolf Pack with 20 points in 39 games, but is he ready to step in against a potentially potent offense in the Ottawa Senators?
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Tags: Bobby+Sanguinetti, Buffalo+Sabres, Corey+Potter, Hartford+Wolf+Pack, Henrik+Lundqvist, Jim+Cerny, Michal+Rozsival, New+York+Rangers, Nigel+Dawes, Ottawa+Senators, Rangers+Report, Ryan+Miller, Sam+Weinman, Stephen+Valiquette, Tom+Renney,
Time to Step Up
by Patrick Hoffman on 01/08/09 at 09:15 PM ET
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As I’m sure all of you New York Ranger fans are aware of, goaltender Henrik Lundqvist was named to the Eastern Conference All Star team. He’s been a Vezina Trophy finalist in each of his three seasons in the National Hockey League so it’s nice that he finally got recognized by the league as one of the game’s elite netminders.
With that being said, if NHL management based their selections on the last two months, Lundqvist would not be on the team. Much like he did in 2006-07 and last season, Lundqvist is having trouble finding consistency. Just take a look at this week, for example. On Monday night, he stymies the Pittsburgh Penguins in a 4-0 shutout and last night, he allows five goals in a 6-3 loss to the Montreal Canadiens. The team’s beat reporters went about as far to say that Lundqvist was one of the main reasons why the team lost last night. I’m sure most of you would agree.
This weekend, the team takes on the Buffalo Sabres (Friday night, 7:30 p.m., at the HSBC Arena) and the Ottawa Senators (Saturday night, 7 p.m., at Scotiabank Place). These are four points that the Rangers should be able to get so hopefully, Henrik will be on top of his game in the tilt he starts (assuming that backup goaltender Stephen Valiquette will start one of the two) because as Henrik goes, so do the Blueshirts.
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Tags: Buffalo+Sabres, Eastern+Conference+All+Star+Team, Henrik+Lundqvist, Montreal+Canadiens, New+York+Rangers, Ottawa+Senators, Pittsburgh+Penguins, Stephen+Valiquette,
Records can be Deceiving
by Patrick Hoffman on 12/01/08 at 09:30 PM ET
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With a record of 17-8-2 and sitting first in the Eastern Conference, one would have to think that the team and its fans would be happy.
In the case of the New York Rangers, not so much. Looks can be deceiving folks and yesterday afternoon’s 4-0 clunker at the hands of the Florida Panthers proves that point.
Over at Sam Weinman’s (The Journal News) Rangers Report Blog, MSG’s John Giannone points out that of the club’s 17 wins, six have come in the shootout. If there were no shootouts, the team would have a substantially lower record and would be 11-7-8.
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Tags: Calgary+Flames, Chris+Drury, Florida+Panthers, Henrik+Lundqvist, John+Giannone, Markus+Naslund, Michal+Rozsival., Montreal+Canadiens, New+York+Rangers, Nikolai+Zherdev, Ottawa+Senators, Phoenix+Coyotes, Pittsburgh+Penguins, Sam+Weinman, Scott+Gomez, Tampa+Bay+Lightning, Wade+Redden,
Officially a Losing Streak
by Patrick Hoffman on 11/22/08 at 07:30 PM ET
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While they may have only dropped their last two games, the New York Rangers played like they were in the midst of a two-week slump in a 4-1 loss to the Ottawa Senators this afternoon.
They had no jump in their legs, didn’t get pucks to the net, had trouble getting the puck out of their own zone and looked generally disorganized for 60 minutes.
So my question is: What’s going on?
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Tags: Brandon+Dubinsky, Colton+Orr, Jarkko+Ruutu, Marc+Staal, New+York+Rangers, Ottawa+Senators, Paul+Mara, Phoenix+Coyotes, Stephen+Valiquette,
Valiquette to Start
by Patrick Hoffman on 11/22/08 at 12:00 PM ET
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According to Sam Weinman of The Journal News, the New York Rangers have elected to start Stephen Valiquette this afternoon against the Ottawa Senators.
Valiquette played half the game on Wednesday night against the Vancouver Canucks and stopped all 15 shots he faced after Henrik Lundqvist was pulled by Rangers’ head coach Tom Renney (five goals allowed).
However, according to Weinman, Valiquette had been penciled in for this game for a long time and it’s not just a coincidence that he is starting after Lundqvist’s struggles on Wednesday night.
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Tags: Eastern+Conference, Henrik+Lundqvist, New+York+Rangers, Ottawa+Senators, Sam+Weinman, Stephen+Valiquette, The+Journal+News, Tom+Renney, Vancouver+Canucks,
Embarassing
by Patrick Hoffman on 11/20/08 at 05:30 PM ET
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Last night’s 6-3 loss to the Vancouver Canucks can be described in one word: embarrassing.
Through the first 30 minutes of the tilt, the New York Rangers were nowhere to be found, especially in the defensive zone as Rangers’ goaltender Henrik Lundqvist was hung out to dry.
That brings me to my next point: Lundqvist did not pull himself from the game last night.
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Tags: Henrik+Lundqvist, New+York+Rangers, Ottawa+Senators, Sam+Weinman, Scott+Gomez, Stephen+Valiquette, Tom+Renney, Vancouver+Canucks,
Underappreciated
by Patrick Hoffman on 11/18/08 at 09:30 PM ET
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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,
Never Say Die
by Patrick Hoffman on 11/15/08 at 11:45 PM ET
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It was just four weekends ago that the New York Rangers were down 2-0 in third period and managed to come back and win the game 3-2 in a shootout over the Pittsburgh Penguins.
It was deja vu all over again tonight as the Rangers were down 2-0 in the third to the Boston Bruins, only to tie the game in the third period with 53 seconds to go and win it in a shootout thanks to a goal from captain Chris Drury.
Welcome to the new NHL folks.
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Tags: Boston+Bruins, Chris+Drury, Fredrik+Sjostrom, Henrik+Lundqvist, Markus+Naslund, New+York+Islanders, New+York+Rangers, Nigel+Dawes, Nikolai+Zherdev, Ottawa+Senators, Pittsburgh+Penguins, Tom+Renney,
Drury Breaks Out
by Patrick Hoffman on 11/07/08 at 06:00 PM ET
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This may be his second season as a New York Ranger but in last night’s 5-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning, Chris Drury finally broke out.
He helped the team’s power play break out of its funk with two goals with the man advantage. Drury also scored the team’s first shorthanded goal of the season.
All in all, not too shabby for the Trumbull, CT native.
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Tags: Boston+Bruins, Chris+Drury, Edmonton+Oilers, Henrik+Lundqvist, New+Jersey+Devils, New+York+Rangers, Ottawa+Senators, Steve+Valiquette, Tampa+Bay+Lightning, Tom+Renney,
