Goal Line Report
What is Going on with Biron and the Blueshirts?
by Patrick Hoffman on 03/09/12 at 01:02 AM ET
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This is something that has to be asked after the New York Rangers lost to the Ottawa Senators tonight by a score of 4-1 .
Tonight, Rangers’ back-up goaltender Martin Biron allowed three goals, two on four shots in the first period, and did not look too comfortable out there. While I said earlier that it was smart to start Biron against the Senators tonight rather than the Chicago Blackhawks tonight, I now wonder why the team did not start Henrik Lundqvist in tonight’s inter-conference game and have Biron go in the non-conference game.
Anyways, in his last six games, Biron has lost two games in regulation, lost two games in overtime and has allowed 18 goals. While he did manage to win two games in this six game span (Carolina Hurricanes and Tampa Bay Lightning), he has looked shaky, allowed a few soft goals and has lost games that the Rangers probably could have won with Lundqvist between the pipes.
This is not to take anything away from what Biron has accomplished this season. He is 11-4-2 and has pretty decent stats for a back-up goaltender in the NHL. With that said, it would be nice if he could play a bit better so that may be team head coach John Tortorella can have the option of resting Lundqvist a few more games before the team enters the postseason.
While Biron was not great against the Senators tonight, neither was the rest of the Rangers’ hockey club. Ryan Callahan, who scored his 26th goal of the season tonight in the first period, played well as did Artem Anisimov. Unfortunately for the Rangers, no one else on the team followed suit.
I know I have mentioned this before but I cannot stress enough how important it is that the team gets back to establishing some consistency. For the last two or three weeks, the Rangers have been an up and down hockey club and while they have won more games than they have lost, they do not seem to have that gusto they had when they were in the midst of brilliant stretches of hockey.
Tomorrow night, the team will be taking on a hungry Blackhawks’ hockey club that will be looking to solidify one of the top eight spots in the Western Conference. While the Blueshirts’ have usually played well in back-to-backs, tomorrow will be telling as to where this Rangers’ hockey club really is.
Yes, the team is on top of both the Atlantic Division and Eastern Conference but nothing is a lock yet. There is still plenty of hockey to be left which means that there is still time for the Blueshirts to rectify things and get things going again.
Hopefully, the Rangers will be able to do so tomorrow night at the Mad House on Madison.
Filed in: | Goal Line Report | Permalink
Tags: artem+anisimov,
carolina+hurricanes,
chicago+blackhawks,
henrik+lundqvist,
john+tortorella,
martin+biron,
new+york+rangers,
ottawa+senators,
ryan+callahan,
tampa+bay+lightning
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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.