In his career, which had stretched from the Peterborough Petes to the Lowell Lock Monsters to the Carolina Hurricanes, finding the net was never a problem for Eric Staal: Eighty-one goals in three Ontario League seasons, 26 in his only year in the AHL, and 319 in 13 NHL campaigns, with between 30 and 45 in five of them.
“I’ve scored a lot of goals in my time,” the low-key, 31-year-old Ranger said without a trace of braggadocio. “This year, for some reason, it hasn’t been hitting the back of the net. You want to see it [go in] every time you shoot.