Rangers News: Morning Updates

Callahan and Higgins both having abysmal shooting percentages right now (relative to their careers). If they keep shooting, those pucks will start finding twine. Dubinsky’s 21 shots in 18 games is terrible, when he comes back that will have to change.

It’s really not the only problem though.

First 8 games: 26.3% PP, 88.1% PK, .937 sv%, 13.6% shooting percentage
Last 13 games: 18.8% PP, 81.5% PK, .896 sv%, 8.2% shooting percentage.

The offense should come around….shots wise the team is virtually identical, they’re just not finding the net. If you really look at it, look at the run of goaltenders they’ve faced before and after the ‘collapse’:

Before:
Fleury, LeClaire, Brodeur, Theodore, Giguere, Toskala, Ersberg, MacDonald

Nabokov, Brodeur, Price (who we lit for 4 goals), Bryzgalov (lit for 5), Roloson (1 goal, like 5 posts that game), Backstrom, Thomas, Raycroft, Khabibulan (lit for 4), Hedberg (3g), Elliott, and Varlomov.

I mean, they’ve run into a big of a buzz-saw with elite goalies which certainly contribues to the lower shooting percentage and lack of PP scoring. Against the below-average goalies, they’ve had success similar to the initial streak.

The hidden problem:

PK with Drury and Dubinsky: 71/82: 86.5%
PK w/o Drury and Dubinsky: 10/14: 71.4%

In those 3 games w/o the D’s: 2 EN goals, 4 ES goals and 4 PP goals.

Throw in a Redden mistake, and the team has allowed 3 even strength goals in the last 3 games, a formula for success, whether they are scoring or not.

Small sample size to be sure, but somebody needs to step up to fill those PK roles, or more losing will be on its way.