Goal Line Report
Big Test for Blueshirts
by Patrick Hoffman on 11/29/11 at 11:34 AM ET
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That will most certainly be the case tonight when the New York Rangers take on the Pittsburgh Penguins tonight at Madison Square Garden.
The Penguins ride into town with the best record in both the Eastern Conference and entire NHL (14-6-4). Of course, we cannot forget that Sidney Crosby is back and once again looks like the best player in the entire National Hockey League.
The Blueshirts are also playing some pretty solid hockey themselves. They have won two straight over the Washington Capitals and Philadelphia Flyers and also sport one of the league’s best records on home ice at 6-1-1.
The key for the Rangers tonight will be to key in on guys like Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and James Neal. These guys know how to put the puck in the net and if given ample room to do so, especially on the power play, will make the Blueshirts pay for their mistakes.
Speaking of mistakes, Rangers’ goaltender Henrik Lundqvist will need to come up big for his club tonight should the Rangers’ play careless hockey in their own zone. Once again, Lundqvist has been one of the league’s best goaltenders this season and comes into tonight’s tilt with a 9-4-3 record, a 2.05 goals against average, .935 save percentage and two (2) shutouts.
On offense, the Blueshirts will need to get production from the likes of Marian Gaborik, Brad Richards, Ryan Callahan, Derek Stepan, Artem Anisimov, etc. There is no doubt that the Penguins have a ton of offensive talent so the Rangers will need to make sure they can match it.
It should be a dandy tonight at MSG and one that will be a huge test for the New York Rangers.
Filed in: | Goal Line Report | Permalink
Tags: artem+anisimov,
brad+richards,
derek+stepan,
evgeni+malkin,
henrik+lundqvist,
james+neal,
marian+gaborik,
new+york+rangers,
pittsburgh+penguins,
ryan+callahan,
sidney+crosby
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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.
For questions, comments and hip checks, feel free to e-mail Patrick at patrickhoffman3530@gmail.com.