ATTACK PLAN
REGARDING the Rangers, who might have added interest in Monday’s game at the Garden representing low-profile (no-profile) assistant Lindy Ruff in his first crack at the Stars team he coached the previous four seasons:
Henrik Lundqvist transforming his game on the fly at age 35 into a stylistic hybrid of Martin Brodeur and Mike Richter is tantamount to Chris Evert becoming a serve-and-volley tennis player after 13 years on the tour.
Yet that is just what the King has done these last six weeks in leaving his patented deep, patient, thinking-man’s technique behind to become a more aggressive, attacking, athletic and acrobatic goaltender.
“You have to adapt,” Lundqvist told The Post after Saturday’s 5-2 victory over the Devils in which he was routinely outstanding. “There are so many more one-onone plays — so many more — that I needed to change. You look at all the goalies who stayed around for a long time, and they adapted.
“There are still times when I find myself thinking a little too much and maybe get caught in between, but I think it’s going well. It’s fun for me.”
Lundqvist is on his best roll since he carried the Rangers to a 14-2-2 getaway in 2015-16. He has been sharper around the net and, dare say, even a bit better handling the puck the last couple of weeks.
The netminder, who is expected to get his 16th start in the last 17 games and 26th overall in this one against the Stars, is 11-3 with a .928 save percentage. and 2.34 goals-against average since the beginning of November following a 3-4-2/.898/3.21 line in October.
“You know, I played this way before, but just not here,” Lundqvist said, with an impish grin on his face. “That’s the way I played in Sweden.”
Lundqvist’s 25 starts are third most in the league, one behind Calgary’s Mike Smith and Toronto’s Frederik Andersen. His 1,406:08 of ice time is sixth in the league, behind Andersen (1,571:40), Smith, Columbus’ Sergei Bobrovsky, Tampa Bay’s Andrei Vasi- levskiy and St. Louis’ Jake Allen.
The workload bothers me less than the arbitrary 55-60 start cap placed on Lundqvist prior to the last couple of years. Hardly unique, Lundqvist thrives on regular work. He is in prime condition. Sixty-five starts — a number the King hasn’t reached since 2010-11 when he hit 67, though he did start 64 two years ago — seems about right.
The Rangers can worry about the impact the workload might have on Lundqvist in late May and June.
The question, though, is whether the Rangers have enough confidence in backup Ondrej Pavelec to turn to him those other 17 — now 13 — times? The Blueshirts have nine remaining back-to-backs. As coach Alain Vigneault said Saturday, “They’re all big games.” Meaning, Pavelec is going start a number of them.
I have wondered whether it would be possible to swing a deal with the Coyotes to reacquire Antti Raanta, who returned from a second injuryrelated absence to lose 1-0 to the Jackets on Saturday, but the price would likely be prohibitive.
This goal-scoring Jesper Fast (six in his last eight games) is the player the Rangers anticipated getting when they drafted the winger 157th overall in 2010 when he spelled his last name, “Fasth.”
“He’s like a hidden secret,” Rick Nash said following Saturday’s game in which Fast moved into a top-six, matchup role on the unit with No. 61 and Kevin Hayes. “Not too many people around the league know about him, but he can do it all.”
Do you think the Golden Knights might like to have a doover on their expansion draft selection from the Rangers, from whom they took Oscar Lindberg rather than Fast? Perhaps general manager George McPhee drafted by position and wanted a center. Perhaps the Golden Knights were put off by the hip surgery Fast underwent following the playoffs.
Whatever, the Rangers were able to keep a more valuable player in Fast, who has always had the tools to be a productive offensive player. They were able to keep a more valuable player in Michael Grabner, too.
Speaking of whom: Would three years at $10 million be enough to keep the Austrian Express from testing the open market on July 1? If not, what is the number that would prevent Grabner from going to free agency?
Does Grabner have more value to the Rangers on the ice or as a trade-deadline chip? Probably in their lineup if he is viewed around the league as a third/fourth-line specialist. It is time for general manager Jeff Gorton to open discussions with No. 40.