Where are the Goals??? Couldn’t find em last night at MSG

Evening all, The Rangers played a game in front of an intimate crowd last night at the Garden and proceeded to lose yet again at home, this time to the Preds by a score of 2-1 and I started to wonder once again, where are the goals?  But then I remembered that they don’t score many goals and are even more inept at home when it comes to this issue.  The team simply showed nothing for the most part and were shut down time and time again.  One glaring thing I noticed again is how bad this team looks with Gaborik in the lineup.  They don’t finish plays and pass the puck too much.  Jokinen could have stepped up his game last night, but again failed to show that he is a top player in the league, too bad cause it looks like he is truly gonna be a short term deal here.  At least they get his salary off the cap should this not work out.

Next, Lundqvist can’t do it himself every night as this has become the theme for this team as they are offensively challenged on a nightly basis, scoring 1 or 2 goals most nights and relying on Henrik to stand on his head non stop.  I’m hoping at this point that they miss the playoffs even though they are in the pack withn a few points of a spot.  This could serve notice to the franchise that changes are needed to become a stronger team instead of the constant quick fixes.  First to go should be Sather since in 10 years as GM, the team has only 2 2nd round appearances and 4 spots overall.  This is a constant point of contention and the Garden faithful have made no bones about his firing with non stop chants.  Next, I would love to get rid of the deadwood contracts, but the key is finding a sucker GM  to take on those albatrosses.

Well, one last bone to pick and this one is with the NHL, why in the world did they not get radio broadcast rights for the Olympic hockey tournament???  They talk about promoting their game and the XM channels will be mostly silent for the next 2 weeks instead of having the games on them.  Another bonehead move by our esteemed Commissioner, who continues to show us all what a butthead he is.  This, the horrid officiating and other issues have made the league a joke.  The only thing he’s concerned with is the Winter Classic, which has created a boring contest and having teams start the season over in Europe.  Hey Gary, why not have the whole damn league start over there already, seems like that’s the plan eventually.

Anyway, I couldn’t be happier that the break is just about here since I’m sick of watching lousy Ranger hockey as has been the case most of this season.  The 2 games the have left are in Pitt on Friday vs. the Pens where they will probably get killed and then a Valentine’s Day tilt against the resurgent Lightning, who I’m sure would love to send them off to the break on a bad note.  Maybe the break will help them, but I have my doubts at this point since they have shown not enough life for my liking at this point.

Until next time,

Howie