Ailing Lundqvist on target to start tonight in D.C.

WASHINGTON — There was quite a bit of progress in the health of Henrik Lundqvist over the past few days, and the goaltender seems ready to play for the Rangers in Friday night’s match against the Capitals.

Lundqvist fell ill over the weekend and was unable to make his scheduled 15th straight start in what turned out to be a 4-3 win Tuesday in Pittsburgh. Instead, backup Ondrej Pavelec made 41 saves in just his fourth start of the season and seventh appearance overall.

Pavelec was backed up Tuesday by 21-year-old Alexandar Georgiev, but Georgiev was sent back to AHL Hartford on Wednesday. Lundqvist took the ice Thursday for a full-team practice at Kettler Iceplex in Alexandria, Va., and reported a vast improvement.

“I felt a lot better [Wednesday],” he said of the travel day from Pittsburgh. “Had light workout when we got here. Pretty close to back to normal.”

Lundqvist is expecting to take the morning skate on Friday with the extras just to get some work in. The Rangers host the Devils on Saturday night, the first backto-back they have had since Oct. 13-14.

Lundqvist is at 418 career wins, tied with Tony Esposito (with Chicago) for the secondmost wins with one franchise in league history. He trails only Martin Brodeur’s 688 with the Devils.

Coach Alain Vigneault said he was not planning on changing the lineup, meaning defenseman Steven Kampfer will remain the only healthy scratch for the third straight game.

Vigneault stopped in to Capital One Arena on Wednesday night to catch a glimpse of the Capitals’ 6-2 win over the Blackhawks. It was an impressive performance, in which Alex Ovech- kin scored his league-leading 21st goal of the season and Nicklas Backstrom broke a 21-game streak without a goal.

But it hardly changed Vigneault’s perception of the Capitals (17-11-1), who are just in front of the Rangers (15-10-2) in the standings.

“That team plays a lot like they have in the past, even though some of the personnel has changed a little bit,” Vigneault said. “Play the same type of system, execute it well, so it’s going to be a hard one for us.”