Where'd the goals go?

It was a very good December. It was a December in which we went 8-3-1, including three victories over our hated rival Islanders and a decisive third-period comeback over HBO's Penguins following a 7-0 blowout of HBO's Capitals. Among People Who Talk About Hockey For a Living, the Buzzword around the Rangers stopped being "grinders" and started being "contenders." Every other article was about how the Rangers can now maybe be taken seriously among the top teams of the Eastern Conference.

I'm not prepared to say the wheels are coming off (nor was I prepared to agree that the wheels were ever quite so on as these people were saying), but we have been playing somewhat less inspiring hockey this month. We're back down to a .500 team in January, going 4-4-1 in 9 games so far. As Larry Brooks put it bluntly today, we are "no more than another bad week from going into the All-Star Break on the outside of the playoff picture looking in."

It's worth noting that we're also an excellent week or two from the top of the conference - that's how it works in today's "even losers deserve points in the standings, shootouts are exciting so try to make them happen" NHL - but this is not the point. The point is that there is an undeniable indicator that the Rangers have underperformed in 2011: we've stopped scoring goals.

In that glorious 12-game December, the Rangers put up 43 goals. So far in January? Only 14, on pace for under 19 goals when we hit that 12-game mark. 43.4% of the goals we scored in as many games in December. Rough stuff.

Anyway, I'm trying to keep some of these posts shorter, so anyone at all will read then, and I'm not sure what I really have to say here. I don't entirely blame the loss of Callahan and friends to injuries, and I don't really buy the "it's Gaborik's fault" thing, either. I think everyone needs consistent linemates, and we've always been a score-by-committee team. So, as always, my solutions are: give Avery more ice time, and keep the lines consistent. But I'm not here with evidence that that will help; I'm just here to point out what should be the obvious: we need more goals from everyone if we want to win hockey games.