Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Another Lundqvist Yawner

Henrik Lundqvist is getting boring. Boringly great! Last night he racked up his 5th shutout of the season and the 40th of his career. That leaves Lundqvist only nine shutouts behind the great Eddie Giacomin for most shutouts by a Ranger goalie. He 'only' had to make 22 saves, albeit some were spectacular. When you are as good as Lundqvist it only takes a few great saves to pitch a shutout. Right now Lundqvist ranks third among all goalies in both GAA's and save percentage. His GAA is 1.87 and his save percentage is .937.

The game was your typical Ranger game. Low scoring. Hard hitting. The teams doled out a total of 66 hits. Strong, maniacal defense by the Rangers and the obligatory Mike Rupp staged fights. Rupp had two last night both with Chris Thorburn. Mike spent 10 minutes in the penalty box, 6:42 on the ice and 43:18 on the bench. And Sean Avery sits in Hartford. Set him free Stealth!

The goal scorers were Mitchell, Callahan and Richards. The impotent power play was 0-4 and is now 1-21 in the last nine games. It gets worse as we go further back but why belabor the point. If there is anyone in the Ranger organization that knows anything about a power play they should speak now or forever hold their peace.

ICINGS: Yesterday's post was the 1,000th for the Ranger Pundit. Our first post was way back in April 2004 and who dreamed that we would still be plugging away almost eight years later. Of course not much has improved in Rangerland as we have gone through many players and coaches, but one constant GM. Our playoff record has been mostly non-existant, but as they say hope springs eternal. So we continue to hope. For those of us who have been frustrated through the years we always turn optimistic when we turn the page of the new year. This year has been brighter than most so the spark has been brighter a little longer than usual. Hopefully it will continue and the end result will be the hoisting of the much talked about and coveted Stanley Cup! Let's Go Rangers!



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7 comments:

  • Steve C said...
     

    Congratulations on 1000 posts, most of all your posting on a regular basis which I attribute to you feeling better. I had no idea how long you had been doing it. The Rangers look so promising aside
    from the PP.

  • mike said...
     

    Steve C-Thanks for your kind comments. I am feeling better and the Rangers are playing better.

    Now about that power play.........!!!!

  • Wes said...
     

    Nice work on hitting 1000. I enjoy stopping by and getting my reality check here. This might be the year!

  • mike said...
     

    Wes-We are about due, aren't we?

  • Section 335 said...
     

    Let's not drink the Kool-Aud yet. If this team can get the power play working and catch a break of two it has a shot. They are one of seven teams with a real shot.

  • Scotty Hockey said...
     

    1,000 and counting. Great stuff Pundit, many thanks for what you do!

  • jb said...
     

    I think the Ranger Pundit has a ways to go to catch up to to the prolific and productive Peepin' Scotty.

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