CLEAR AND PRESENT RANGER
Lundqvist closes door to help Blueshirts get back on track after big loss vs. Isles
The original thought was not for Henrik Lundqvist to be in nets Saturday night.
David Quinn had planned to give backup Alex Georgiev the nod against the Panthers, but when the Islanders bull-rushed the Rangers for seven goals Thursday night — five on Lundqvist, largely by no fault of his own on a flurry of deflections, and he was pulled after two periods — the coach’s thinking changed.
Lundqvist, and the Rangers, took advantage.
On a night they were heavily outshot, it hardly mattered as the Rangers capitalized on their chances and Lundqvist did the rest for a bounce-back, 4-2 win over the Panthers at the Garden.
“I didn’t want him to wait too long to get back in there, so we put him back in tonight and he did what he’s been doing all year long,” Quinn said. “He’s been an elite goalie for a long time and I think he’s going to be an elite goalie for a while to come.”
Lundqvist made 39 saves to earn the win, the 438th of his ca- reer. In the midst of another strong season, the 36-year old passed Hall of Famer Jacques Plante and took over sole possession of seventh place on the alltime wins list. Roberto Luongo (20 saves), who was in the other net Saturday night, is fourth with 475.
“It’s a proud feeling,” Lundqvist said. “When you enter the top 10, I think that’s the first time you really start to look at that list. There’s some really good goalies and goalies that played a huge part in the history of the game. It means a lot to me. At the same time, it’s a stat where it’s really the team.”
The Rangers (10-8-2) won for the seventh time in their past nine games, continuing to exceed the preseason expectations set for them with nearly a quarter of the season in the books.
They were lacking defensively their last time out, giving Lundqvist no help in front of the net in Thursday’s loss to the Islanders, but made sure it did not turn into a slide. They have not lost back-to-back games since the end of October. After taking a 4-2 lead on Chris Kreider’s powerplay goal at 7:56 of the third period, the Rangers locked down and even survived a late penalty kill, further distancing themselves from the end-of-game struggles that plagued them earlier in the year.
“I think we’re growing up,” Quinn said. “As we’ve talked about our late-game struggles here in the last few weeks, we’ve managed to manage the game well later in the game over the last few games we’ve had leads.
“Tonight was a challenge. You lost a game, what are you going to do about it? We found a way to win.”
Vladislav Namestnikov provided the game-winner at 2:37 of the second period on a shot that played pinball before finally, apparently crossing the goal line. Camped out front, the winger took a pass from Mika Zibanejad and redirected it on net. The puck hit off Luongo, then pinged the crossbar before falling behind the goalie and trickling across the goal line.
Filip Chytil continued his surge and gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead early in the first period. After going his first 17 games of the season without a goal, the 19-yearold scored in his third straight, becoming the first Rangers teenager to ever notch a three-game goal streak.
After the Panthers took a 2-1 lead with a pair of hard one-timers past Lundqvist, Brendan Smith notched the equalizer while making his return to the lineup after three games as a healthy scratch.
“I just know when I get back in, I got to play my best hockey,” Smith said. “When you get the chance, you have to make it hard to not be out.”