Monday, November 22, 2010

Biron Starting Tonight vs Calgary; Time To Worry About Lundqvist? (Henrik Poll Q's)

It was announced by take your pick of Rangers beat writers that tonight's game will have Martin Biron between the pipes for the second straight game.  This will be the second time that Biron has started two straight and Rangers fans will hope that the results are the same as last time when he won both of those games.  Personally I have no problem with Biron being in net as overall I believe he has outplayed Lundqvist and given the team a chance to win in 5 of his prior 6 starts.

The real story is not that Biron is net, but that Henrik Lundqvist is not.  Coach John Tortorella was quick to point out that Henrik is still the number one guy and that he would be back in there on Wednesday for a nice easy game against Stamkos and the Lightning.  The reason given for Henrik sitting tonight was to give him a few more days to work with Benoit Allaire on technique after some very inconsistent play so far this season.  Lundqvist has been outstanding at times as evidenced by his two shutouts, but he has been average or worse, at least in results, as evidenced by the fact in his 15 starts he has given up at least 3 goals in 9 of those games, which is just not good enough if this team is to go anywhere this season.

Quote from Henrik and Poll Questions Inside

For his part Lundqvist is taking it as a professional and a good teammate.  Andrew Gross had the following quote:
I don't want to be selfish. It's about the team. Marty played well the other night and we won. I think I can be more consistent.
I agree with Henrik's assessment though selfishly I want to see the number one goalie on my team be upset he is not in there the way Henrik has been the last few years when he would force his way back into the lineup.  This leads me to a couple of poll questions concerning Lundqvist.