THE KING OF QUEBEC
Veteran netminder reclaims his throne
MONTREAL — This was just before the Rangers and Henrik Lundqvist took the ice for Game 1 of their firstround series against the Canadiens, which is to suggest the franchise goaltender was not watching the French-language telecast of the match.
So Lundqvist would not have been watching the broadcast focusing on his plebeian regular-season 2.74 GAA and .910 save percentage that was accompanied by a graphic that fairly shouted: “Le King n’est plus!”
Eve n an Englishspeaking fellow could get the translation. Probably a Swedish one, as well. “The King is no longer!” All righty, then. Because on this night, on this stage, operating under intense scrutiny, Lundqvist turned back the clock to the days when no one but no one doubted his ability to rise to the occasion with a 2-0 shutout victory that allowed the Blueshirts to grab the lead in this series that they entered as overwhelming underdogs.
“I’m aware of what people have been saying, but as a goalie you try and take the good from every situation, so obviously I focused on the last time we were here for the playoffs,” Lundqvist said after a 31-save performance that harkened back to his Game 1 and Game 2 victories here in the 2014 conference finals. “Sometimes when the pressure goes up, it makes it easier to have the right mindset.”
Lundqvist entered this one 0-6-1 headto-head against Carey Price since the 2014 series that the Blueshirts captured in six games and in which the Montreal goaltender famously went down for the count in Game 1. The King’s ninth and last playoff shutout had come in the 1-0 Game 6 clincher at home.
“We have to prove ourselves and I have to prove myself every time out,” said Lundqvist, challenged most severely throughout a first period in which the Blueshirts were outshot 16-5 and out-attempted 26-8 overall and 18-5 at even strength. “You know the importance [of a playoff game]. The urgency goes up and the desperation goes up.
“I’ve had butterflies for two days. I’ve been thinking about this almost every hour for the past week. You’re anxious and nervous and excited at the same time.”
This was a musclememory game for this band of veterans who have been through every postseason situation. When Lundqvist was digging in through the opening 20 minutes, the young Rangers were getting their bearings. And somehow would leave the ice with a 1-0 lead on a Tanner Glass floating backhand seconds after a right wing draw at 9:50 of the period in which the Blueshirts killed a pair of penalties 1:56 apart.
“I think the younger guys who hadn’t experienced playoff hockey didn’t quite know what to expect and so maybe we were a little hesitant as a group in the first,” Derek Stepan said. “But after the kills and after the first, I thought we were on our toes, put pressure on them and for the most part played the way we wanted to.
“And of course, in the playoffs you need your goaltender to be your best player. Which he was.”
Lundqvist was quick around the net while encountering traffic and absorbing contact. The goaltender was good with the stick, deflecting away an attempted Max Pacioretty first-period feed from behind the net. He blockered a rising, heavy drive from the top off Shea Weber’s stick midway through the second before making the save of the night on a lunge against Weber off a backdoor feed from Alexander Radulov with 4:25 to go in the period and the Habs on their third man-advantage.
“That was kind of a half-slide, half-butterfly. I went old-school on that one,” said Lundqvist, resolute in protecting the 1-0 lead until Michael Grabner’s empty-netter at 18:50 of the third sealed it. “It kind of surprised me.”
But this performance did not surprise his teammates, not even a tiny bit.
“For all the crap he’s taken this year, he’s one of the hardest-working guys I’ve ever seen,” Stepan told The Post. “When it comes to big moments and the biggest games, he is phenomenal. I know this meant a lot to him.”
Or, as the graphic might read next time: “Longue vie Le King!”
Does anyone require a translation?