Devs-Rangers

New year, clean slate. This game has left me in disbelief. Both sides were even; all four goals were tricky shots. Madden's goal hit Ward's foot, Nylander's goal was immediately off the dribble (apologies for lack of a better term) and through a screen, Prucha's goal was set up by a skate deflection from Jagr (on purpose), and Langenbrunner's goal was a 1,000th shot on Lundqvist on the backdoor. No score in OT, time for a shootout.

Marty has looked more than human in the recent shootouts, making the first move and getting roofed often. Tonight was no different and Matt Cullen's goal showed how badly he could get burned. On the Devil end, Gionta cranked a slapper into Lundqvist's pads and he didn't even have to move to stop it. Gomez and Brylin insisted on hitting the 5-hole on a butterfly goalie and made no moves to stretch him out. Parise did his move (emphasis on one) and got it in and Patty FINALLY scored, but barely. Which brings me to a new feature:

Phrase of the day:
Pulling a Rollie - v - the act of being stopped when sliding the puck into an open net.
Origin - Brian Rolston in his days with the Devils did this so often, he earned the namesake. Time and time again, he'd slide the puck on the ice instead of lifting it that vital 1 foot and could have been a 30 or 40 goal scorer if he learned from his mistakes. A perfect example is Elias being stopped by Brian Boucher's glove (which was on the ice) in the 2000 ECF. Patrice Bergeron has also been known to pull Rollies, but could not beat Rolston for the honor.
Example sentence - Langenbrunner sure pulled a Rollie against Lundqvist tonight. Why didn't he just lift the puck?

Granted, a lot of oportunities must be rushed and wobly or spinning pucks make it harder, but this is what it takes to be a pro. Even if the puck's not in the sweet spot, you have to get it up. Langenbrunner's goal proved this point; if he didn't lift it, it would've been stopped. Skip ahead to the shootout.

Elias gets Lundqvist down and sliding the wrong way, but gently slides the puck on goal. Lundqvist (a name I'm tired of typing) stretched out and got a piece of the puck, but luckily it still went it. Langenbrunner stepped up with a chance to win the game and did the same thing Elias did. Lundqvist had nothing, but still stretched his glove out in hopes of touching the puck and that he did. Langenbrunner emphatically pushed the puck to the goal only to be stopped by the glove. Firstly, he's on his forehand and snapping a puck a foot off the ice shouldn't be that hard regardless of where it is. Secondly, the puck was in the sweet spot, making it easier to lift it. This is the worst time to do something like this and now, the Rangers are a point closer and are in high spirits.