Rangers’ playoffs depend on goalie
Lundqvist boosts Blueshirts’ bearing
GREENBURGH, N.Y. — The New York Rangers are clinging to the last playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, and their hopes are riding on (who else?) their goaltender, Henrik Lundqvist.
The Rangers are 5-2-1 in their last eight games after dropping a 4-2 decision to the Flyers Tuesday night in Philadelphia despite dominating the third period and have been playing with an invigorated sense of purpose.
“The confidence is higher,” Lundqvist said at practice. “The last couple of weeks we’re playing with more energy. Having new guys come into the room changed the atmosphere a little bit, helped us. And guys have been stepping up here lately.”
Lundqvist, last year’s Vézina Trophy winner as the league’s top goalie, is having another excellent season. He recorded his first shutout of the season Saturday in a crucial 1-0 overtime victory over the New York Islanders. His .926 save percentage is sixth best in the NHL, and above his career .920 mark.
He has played 37 of 42 games, with coach John Tortorella unable to repeat last season’s plan of resting him more frequently with the backup, Martin Biron, because of the team’s pursuit of a playoff berth. Still, Tortorella said that Lundqvist would probably not play all of the remaining games.
“When we’re dying on the vine and struggling to get in, you have to make some decisions that way,” he said. “You go into the season thinking about trying to keep him fresh. But when you struggle and you’re inconsistent as we are, you need to use him in some spots where maybe you’d go to Marty. And that certainly isn’t a negative on Marty. But Hank is our No. 1 guy.”
Tortorella cut Lundqvist’s workload last season, and he responded with the best playoff performance of his career: a .931 save percentage as he led the Rangers to the conference final.
This lockout-shortened season has been different. Lundqvist started slowly, as did the Rangers. But while he elevated his game after the first month, the Rangers did not.
In March, Lundqvist’s frustration boiled over. The Rangers were the lowest-scoring team in the league, losing often and at risk of missing the playoffs. The intense but soft-spoken Lundqvist was upset after a series of defeats and let slip some pointed assessments of his teammates.
“It’s getting old,” he said after the Rangers lost 3-1 to the last-place Florida Panthers on March 21. “We just have to put the puck in the net; that’s how you win games.”
A couple of other couched references to his teammates’ need to be tougher in front of the net was hardly eviscerating criticism. But for Lundqvist, it was highly unusual.
“I don’t think it was so much about scoring — it was more about emotions,” Lundqvist said Monday, looking back on what he said a month ago. “Hockey is a game where you have to play with your heart a lot of times. I think we’ve been doing that lately.”
The Rangers are 4-2-1 since the April 3 trade deadline, when they acquired Ryane Clowe.