King: We can beat any team

Henrik Lundqvist has seen more hockey than any of his Rangers teammates.

The goalie is wise enough to know the up-and-coming Rangers (9-7-2), who have won six of seven and entered Tuesday’s day off in second place in the Metropolitan Division, have a long way to go. They owned the same record through 18 games last year before the season ended in a selloff and a letter declaring the team’s intent to rebuild.

“We have to keep the same mindset as when we started the season and that’s very short term,” Lundqvist said after making 25 saves to help beat the Canucks on Monday. “You also have to understand that there’s a lot of teams in the league that are kind of in the same boat. It’s going to come down to how hard you want to work and understand what you need to do to have success.”

But the Rangers have made strides under first-year coach David Quinn to help them offset a rough start and get back on steady ground. The challenge now is sustaining it.

“We can beat any team in the league right now,” said Lundqvist, who tied Jacques Plante for seventh place in all-time NHL wins (437) with Monday night’s victory. “There’s a few teams that are extremely consistent and they’ve separated themselves a little bit. The rest of the pack is going to be a battle all year and we’re in it. That’s important. We need to be in this battle, be in the race to get in and that’s going to help everyone on the team to get better.”

Of course, it always helps to have someone like Lundqvist in nets.

“He’s been immense all year,” Quinn said.

When 19-year-old Filip Chytil and 20-year-old Brett Howden scored Monday night, it marked the first time two Rangers under the age of 21 each scored in a regular-season game since Oct. 16, 1996 ( Daniel Goneau and Christian Dube).

The Rangers put winger Michael Lindqvist on unconditional waivers, according to TSN. The 24-year-old Swede signed a one-year, two-way deal in May. He had three goals and four assists in 16 games for AHL Hartford.