Hank sharp in playoff tuneup, but Rangers fall
OTTAWA — The most important takeaway from Saturday afternoon for the Rangers is that Henrik Lundqvist is ready.
This was Lundqvist’s final start before he takes his place in goal for Game 1 of the first round in Montreal, and his sixth since returning from the strained hip muscle that kept him out for shy of three weeks. Ottawa took advantage of some carelessness in the Rangers’ 3-1 loss, played without seven resting regulars, but Lundqvist was quite sharp while making 30 saves and looked like the player they’ve leaned on so many times in postseasons past and the guy they’ll lean on again this week.
“It’d be a better feeling obviously if we’d been winning a lot lately, and that’s not been the case, but as a goalie you have to focus on the things you can control and try to give your team a chance to win games,” Lundqvist said. “I feel pretty good. I’m gonna work as hard as I can the next couple of days and really fine-tune everything and come to Montreal with a good feeling and try to get a good start in the series. I look forward to it.”
Lundqvist’s first two games back in California featured some impressive stops but the kind of rust one would expect. His game has gotten stronger since and he kept Saturday’s game from getting out of hand.
“It could’ve been real ugly,” Dan Girardi said.
In his first game against his former club, Mika Zibanejad scored the Rangers’ lone goal with 44.4 seconds left in the game, ensuring the Rangers wouldn’t be shut out for a sixth straight period.
Four shots were all Lundqvist had to deal with before a 16-shot second. Just 19 seconds into that second period Lundqvist took a shot off his left shoulder by Mike Hoffman, momentarily keeping Lundqvist down on the ice before he popped up and not long after made a pad save. “It hurts for a minute or two, and then you don’t really think about it,” he said.
Lundqvist playing at such a level always gives the Rangers a chance, and he can steal a game even if his teammates aren’t at their best. Certainly, though, the Rangers need to help him out more.
Ryan McDonagh missed his fourth straight game Saturday with Derek Stepan, Rick Nash, Mats Zuccarello, Jesper Fast, Marc Staal and Nick Holden joining him. It’s the second straight game Alain Vigneault rested a group of regulars, underscoring the lack of meaning in these final games, a factor apparent on the ice.
Still, the Rangers have won just four of their last 14 games, and that may impact Vigneault’s lineup for Sunday’s regular-season finale at home against Pittsburgh. Asked if he might play more regulars to get a better feeling going into the postseason, Vigneault smiled and said “It’s a possibility.”
Girardi admitted these last few games with nothing at stake and players out are hard to play in. He’s confident the team will raise its level when the playoffs begin.
“I think we’ve got enough old guys in the room here and veteran guys that we can let everyone know that it’s not gonna be like the last two games here and we need to pick it up,” Girardi said. “There’s no little play. Hopefully we can just have a good, solid team effort tomorrow and then get on our horse and get going.”
And it will be Lundqvist, as usual, leading the way.
“It was a challenging game,” Lundqvist said, “but maybe a good test as well for me to try to be in a good spot, even though there were some chances all over the place.”