RANGERS BREAK ICE WITH WIN:
Lundqvist answers Bell in dominant shutout of Habs
MONTREAL — You can throw out all the numbers about Henrik Lundqvist and the Rangers struggling here at the Bell Centre over the years, you can forget the careerworst stats Lundqvist posted during the regular season. Because if you doubt Lundqvist he will always remind you he is one of the best to ever do this, a player as competitive and driven as anybody you’ve ever seen, and a man who will rise to the occasion in King-like fashion.
“I had butterflies for two days,” Lundqvist said after his 31-save shutout in the Rangers’ 2-0, Game 1 win over the Canadiens. “I’ve been thinking about this for almost every hour for the past week about the start and to get going and feeling anxious and nervous and excited at the same time. It’s just nice to get going.”
Lundqvist set the tone with 16 first-period saves while Montreal threw everything it had at him, yet the Rangers came away with a 1-0 lead off of a backhanded snipe over Carey Price’s left shoulder by Tanner Glass — you read that right. “Expect the unexpected,” Glass said.
The last time Lundqvist earned a postseason shutout was the Game 6 clincher against these Canadiens three years ago to send the Blueshirts to the Cup Final. He now has 10 career playoff shutouts.
So yes, the 2.74 goals against average and .910 save percentage from this regular season no longer matter. The 3.87 GAA and .877 save percentage in his 15 regular-season games in this building? Brushed aside.
“I’m aware of it,” Lundqvist said regarding talk about his struggles here. “But at the same time as a goalie you always try to look at the good things in every situation.”
The Rangers worked their butts off throughout this one, especially over the final 40 minutes after Lundqvist seemed to demoralize the raucous crowd with his stellar first. The best road team in the NHL maintained intensity throughout, matched Montreal’s physicality, mostly made smart decisions with the puck and played as sound in front of Lundqvist as they have all year.
“(Lundqvist) was competing like he always does,” said Ryan McDonagh, tremendous in a gamehigh 24:32. “I didn’t see anything different in his game than he’s shown all throughout the regular season. It’s a good sign for us that we were able to play well in front of him, too.”
They helped him out big time, and the penalty kill was stout in killing off 4:54 of Montreal power-play time, including 3:56 late in the first. Perhaps Lundqvist’s most impressive save came at 15:35 of the second when Shea Weber crept toward the left post and Lundqvist slid over to rob him of the one-timer with an armpit save.
There was an under-siege stretch of 20 seconds in the first when Lundqvist came up with four saves, and afterward Steve Ott tried to mess with Lundqvist by covering his water bottle after the whistle. Lundqvist shooed it away so he could rehydrate.
“You have to expect stuff like that,” Lundqvist said smiling. “It’s fine. You laugh it off.”
Price has been terrific against the Rangers and was no slouch himself Wednesday by making 29 saves before Michael Grabner’s late empty-netter.
“We didn’t get hurt,” McDonagh said. “Obviously Henrik had to make some big saves, but at the end of the day we found our structure and found the plays we needed to make.”
And Lundqvist made every save he needed to make, as he has so many times before. When he does, the Rangers have a chance against anybody.