King appears set to wear his crown
BOSTON – The King appears ready to reclaim his throne for Saturday afternoon’s 1 p.m. faceoff against the Boston Bruins.
Nothing is official, but on Friday’s off day, Lundqvist tweeted he will be wearing one of six charity masks he has created in conjunction with celebrities – a blue bucket with red flames conceived with race car driver Jeff Gordon.
Lundqvist has committed to wearing each of the masks once in a game. He also excitedly tweeted: “Almost 2 months. It’s been a roller coaster of emotions but happy to finally be back. Let’s get it going, step by step.”
Whether Lundqvist plays or waits to make his return Sunday afternoon at the Garden against Washington, however, he is rejoining the NHL’s most dangerous team: His Rangers (47-19-7, 101 points) lead the league standings and are favorites to capture the NHL’s Presidents’ Trophy and postseason home ice.
The Blueshirts hold two games in hand over both Montreal (100 points) and Tampa Bay (99 points) in the East. And they hold three games in hand over Anaheim (101 points), two over Nashville (100 points) and one over St. Louis (99 points) in the West.
It is a product of the Rangers’ winning consistently even on off nights or in the face of uncommon adversity. That is a product, in the words of captain Ryan McDonagh, of “everybody buying in for the betterment or success of the team.
“The whole leadership group wants to make sure that no matter what the situation is – lineup, injuries, good stretches, bad stretches – you come ready to work and practice your game,” McDonagh said after Thursday night’s 5-1 win in Ottawa. “You really try to focus and prepare and make sure that you execute at a high level. You play hard until the very end. You see ‘G’ (Dan Girardi) blocking shots at the very end (of the game) there. It’s just the nature of building an identity: you want to get into (good) habits.
“And we’ve done a good job,” he added, “of understanding that you’ve got a fine line between confidence and still making sure you come to work and do your best.”
Tanner Glass, an offseason fourth-line acquisition, didn’t score his first goal until Thursday night and might not be in the lineup every night in the playoffs. But he is a “glue” guy who played for Alain Vigneault in Vancouver, and that’s given him perspective on team strengths under this coach.
“Even playing for A.V. before, he’s not the type of coach to let guys slide, whether they’re the firstline center or the fourth-line left wing,” Glass said. “It’s pretty consistent with each guy, how he approaches it, and I think that’s filtered right through the team.”