A PAIR OF KINGS
Quick, Lundqvist will pull out stops for Cup
LOS ANGELES — In 2012, Henrik Lundqvist won the Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s top goaltender. He stood on stage in Las Vegas, let an “F-bomb” slip accidentally in his excitement during the acceptance speech, but maintained there was a different trophy he coveted even more.
That year, Lundqvist’s Rangers were eliminated in a six-game Eastern Conference Final by the New Jersey Devils. Los Angeles Kings goaltender Jonathan Quick, however, earned Conn Smythe honors as playoff MVP while leading L.A. to its first Stanley Cup.
Quick had the Conn Smythe and the Cup. Lundqvist had the Vezina and the 2006 Olympic gold medal with Team Sweden. So everyone asked the question: Who’s the better goalie? By most statistical measures, Lundqvist, 32, has proven more consistent through his nineyear career than Quick, 28, has through parts of seven seasons. But Quick can do a full split and twist every which way to make a save. Unfortunately, there was never an opportunity to compare Lundqvist and Quick on the most even of playing fields: A headto-head matchup. Until now. “(Quick) is one of the best in the league, but we’re kind of the opp o sit e s ,” Lu ndqvist said at media day Tuesday at Staples Center. “He’s extremely aggressive. He’s like a gymnast out there, all over the place, but he’s so quick, so powerful. I sit back. I try to stay deep i n my net and be more in position, but in the end it ’s about stopping t he puck,
and he does it really well.”
This matchup is a childhood dream for Quick, who grew up a Rangers fan in Hamden, Conn., and whose father-in-law also is a former Ranger, forward Mike Backman (1981-84). In 2010, Quick wrote an autobiographical account of his career path and described his strong connection to the Blueshirts growing up.
“My hometown has a strong hockey tradition,” Quick wrote. “We had the Hartford Whalers for a few years, but I grew up watching the New York Rangers. I wasn’t a huge Whalers fan and I liked that the Rangers had Mark Messier, Brian Leetch and Adam Graves. Plus they had Mike Richter in net.”
Richter is another goalie who has won the Cup that Lundqvist covets. He is also the former Rangers great whose records Lundqvist shattered this season, overtaking Richter’s marks for all-time franchise regular-season wins (309 and counting), regular season shutouts (50), and postseason wins (42). He has nine career postseason shutouts, just one away from overtaking Richter in that category, as well.
On the other side, Quick became Team USA’s starting goaltender for the Sochi Olympics thanks to his own consistency through the years, and his U.S. teammate, Rangers defenseman Ryan McDonagh, said Quick is actually very similar to Lundqvist in one aspect.
“You don’t see him get rattled very much, even if there’s a tough deflection goal and there’s nothing he can do, he doesn’t seem to get rattled and just gets ready for the next faceoff,” McDonagh said. “They’re very similar in that aspect, just letting things go quickly and realizing that it’ll be the next save that’s most important.”
Quick arrived to the NHL as a third-round selection, 72nd overall, in the 2005 NHL draft, five years after the Rangers made the steal of the century by snagging Lundqvist 205th overall in the seventh round of the 2000 draft. It’s fitting that Lundqvist was taken in the seventh round, since the Are, Sweden, native has become Mr. Game 7 for the Rangers. Lundqvist became the first NHL goalie to win five consecutive Game 7s when he stopped 13 shots in the third period of the 2-1 win in Pittsburgh on May 13 to complete a second-round comeback from a three-games-to-one deficit.
Unexpectedly, though, he has run into a netminder who also has an impeccable record in the door-die scenario: Quick has a 4-0 career record in Game 7s, with a 2.00 goals against average and a .940 save percentage.
Still, Lundqvist is the one hungry for his first championship, and perhaps that desperation will make the difference.
“You want to win the Cup, and you’re four wins away,” Lundqvist said. “I know this next step will be the toughest one to take, but to me personally, it would mean everything.”