Goal Line Report
Rangers Come Through Again With Win Over Panthers
by Patrick Hoffman on 01/06/12 at 12:55 AM ET
Comments (1)
It seems like every single time the New York Rangers play, they find a way to win.
The team did just that tonight by defeating the Florida Panthers 3-2 in overtime on a goal by Marian Gaborik at Madison Square Garden. Gaborik had been buzzing around the Panthers’ net all night long and was finally rewarded when he got the overtime winner, his 23rd of the season.
With the win, the Rangers improved to 25-9-4 to remain in first in the Eastern Conference by 1 point over the Boston Bruins. The win was also the Blueshirts’ 11th on home ice as the team now has a 12-3-2 record on Garden Ice.
Besides Gaborik, the Rangers also got solid performances from Brad Richards (1 assist), Derek Stepan (1 assist), Ryan Callahan (1 goal), Michael Del Zotto (1 assist) and Dan Girardi. It was also nice to see defenseman Marc Staal get a bit more ice time with 12:51 minutes tonight.
Even though the Panthers scored first and also managed to knot the game up at 2-2, the Rangers controlled most of the game. The Blueshirts outshot the Panthers 41-21 and did a terrific job of getting pucks deep, forechecking and going hard to the net.
Goaltender Martin Biron once again got the job for the Rangers as he made 19 saves on 21 shots for his 8th victory of the season. On the season, Biron is now 8-2 with a 2.06 goals against average, a .922 save percentage and 1 shutout.
Unfortunately for the Rangers, they cannot think about this win for too long as they will take on the Pittsburgh Penguins tomorrow night in Pittsburgh. The Penguins will be a very tough opponent so the Rangers will need to make sure they have their legs and get to the Penguins early.
For now, it’s another two points and another win for the Broadway Blueshirts.
Filed in: | Goal Line Report | Permalink
Tags: boston+bruins,
brad+richards,
dan+girardi,
derek+stepan,
florida+panthers,
marc+staal,
marian+gaborik,
martin+biron,
michael+del+zotto,
new+york+rangers,
pittsburgh+penguins,
ryan+callahan
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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.
Biron and Clemmensen both had remarkable games in spite of their differences in SOGs. At least, the game ended without having to go to a shootout. IMO, that would’ve been a downer to what a great goaltending battle between those two guys.
Posted by SYF from impossible and oddly communally possessive sluts on 01/06/12 at 01:03 AM ET