Lundqvist still adjusting to decreased playing time
It wasn’t an exact number, but it was close.
Rangers coach David Quinn made it pretty clear how he wants to break up his goaltending duties for the season, saying that Henrik Lundqvist is likely to get around 60 percent of the starts, while 40 percent will go to his backup, currently Alexandar Georgiev, with Igor Sheshterkin not too far away while excelling with AHL Hartford.
“Most teams are going with a two-goalie situation where one might play 60 percent and the other plays 40, and I think when the dust settles, that’ll be the case for us,” Quinn said after Lundqvist returned to the nets after sitting for the previous three in the team’s 5-1 win over the Red Wings on Wednesday night at the Garden. “He’s handled it well and he’s played well.”
Lundqvist, 37, knew the decreased workload was going to be an adjustment, likely the biggest adjustment of his 15-year career. But he focused on his preparation, and came in to stop 35 of 36 shots in what he called “probably the best game I’ve had in front of me all year.”
There is a very good chance he could also start the second leg of this back-toback, Thursday night against the Hurricanes in Raleigh, N.C.
“I knew going into this year, it would be a little different, I wouldn’t play as much,” Lundqvist said. “Throughout my entire career, I’m looking to get into the flow where you don’t have to work as hard to prepare because you’re playing so many games and you’re just in it. That’s going to change. I just have to work harder to prepare.”
➤ Veteran defenseman Marc
Staal returned the lineup after being a healthy scratch the past three games, replacing rookie Ryan Lindgren.
“I don’t feel great about sitting Lindgren, he’s done some good things,” Quinn said. “But we wanted to get Staalsy back in, he deserves to get back in. Looking at the rest of the ‘D’ corps, just felt that was the move we were going to make.”
Quinn said he thought Staal had a “solid night,” playing 18:19 mostly paired with Adam Fox. ➤ Top-line center Mika Zibanejad missed his fourth straight with the upper-body/neck injury suffered Oct. 27, and he did not make the trip to Raleigh. Zibanejad did take part in most of Wednesday’s morning skate, and Quinn said, “He’s getting closer.” ➤ Forward Greg McKegg drew back in after being scratched for three straight, and he scored his first goal as a Ranger, shorthanded, to make it 4-1 at 8:44 of the third period. His insertion made Lias Andersson a healthy scratch for the first time this season.
“I thought Lias had a little bit of a drop in play [Monday] night,” Quinn said. “He’s a 20-year-old kid that’s had a good run here, played some good hockey. But it’s just a choice we made.”