Rangers had 42 shots on goal, and that's not counting all the shots that missed the net. And of those 3 goals, 2 were on the power play. So go ahead and blame Hank, but they need to be more consistent from game to game. And yes, I'm the first to admit that Hank has not been Hank this year, but after all the games he has bailed this team out since his arrival, I will give him a pass. His defense needs to man up when he is in the net, like they do for Cam.
As usual Struds, you're way off. Lundqvist didn't lose that game. Idiot Stralman did. His stupid turnover totally changed the momentum of the second period. He was incompetent all game.
Not blaming his for the loss but Lundqvist flat out hasn't been sharp all year. His game just simply has not been there. To whiff on the poke check on that last shootout goal showed he's just not sharp or confident right now. The skater played with the puck for what seemed like a minute right in front of him.
Maybe he could have saved the Wisniewski goal, but other than that it was the inconsistency of the D that lost it for us. I can't really fault Hank for giving up goals on breakaways.
Hank used to be amazing on breakaways. The past couple years he's been slipping. However, you have to ask yourself something. With all these great skating defenseman and forwards we have. Why are we allowing so many breakaways? Answer. Stupidity. People taking too many chances instead of being patient. You don't need to take chances until the third period if you are behind. It's moronic.
Apparently it's a tough adjustment for the dmen to know when to step up, Torts never wanted that while AV encourages it and his style has led to more pucks being kept in the offensive zone they just need to finish.
Hank has carried this team for years so I get the Eli Manning treatment of nothing ever being his fault. Granted Eli has two championships to fall back on. That being said Hank is allowing what seems like 3-4 goals every single game. He's just not making the same big saves he has in the past to cover up other's mistakes. Like Dump mentioned he hasn't been good on the breakaways either. Flat out he's having a bad season and hasn't found his game.
Maybe Hank just hasn't adjusted to the shorter pads. It was thought butterfly goalies would have the toughest adjustments.
I think it's been a combination of the contract early on, Talbot pushing him and just an overall lack of sharpness. I think Talbot playing well put undue pressure on him, as for the first time he sort of had any kind of competition here.
I just can't see that. Hank's a competitor. True competitors use that to compete harder. Plus, I don't think Hank ever viewed Talbot as threat or his playing well as pressuring him.
He's a competitor for sure but when you add in the new contract and the way he started the year, i think Talbot coming in and playing well did affect his psyche a bit. Not that he wasnt happy for Cam or the team but i believe there was a little residual effect on his ego.
Possible. I also agree the contract played a part. I forgot about the pads until a friend mentioned it the other day. That really could be a big part of it. If he lost 2 inches on each, that's 4 inches of a larger 5 hole. I don't remember what goals got thru him, but if he gave up a few between the wickets, might have tried to adjust, and messed him up a bit, both confidence wise and how he plays it. He'd never admit it, but I could see that as a strong possibility.
