Rangers lose on late OT tip
The Rangers sell-off has taken a toll on Henrik Lundqvist, but the franchise goalie with a full no-trade clause wanted to make it clear how he feels about his future on Broadway.
“I love this franchise. Everything they do, everything they do for players, everything they do over my 13 years here. I just can’t see myself anywhere else. I really can’t,” Lundqvist said before he was beaten by a Trevor Daley tip with 5.6 seconds left in the three-on-three overtime to lose to the Red Wings, 3-2, on Sunday night at the Garden.
It was Lundqvist’s first game action in a week following two straight games sitting while rookie Alexandar Georgiev got back-toback starts in as many days. The Rangers (27-30-6) played one of their best games in weeks Sunday, and broke a streak of six straight losses in regulation behind goals from J.T. Miller and Jesper Fast, outshooting Detroit 19-10 in the third period.
But after, Lundqvist said his team “can’t catch a break,” and it’s been like that since management publicly announced its sell-off leading up to Monday’s 3 p.m. trade deadline. They have since moved Nick Holden, Michael Grabner and Rick Nash, with more moves still possible.
“I hope this is something that I will learn from, and the rest of us will learn from — what we’re going through right now,” said Lundqvist, who will turn 36 years old on Friday and has three more years left on his contract that carries an annual salary-cap hit of $8.5 million “Then I hope we’ll be a very competitive team real soon.” Ryan Spooner had two assists in his Rangers debut after he came over as part of the trade that sent Nash to the Bruins. The 26-year-old played on a line with Kevin Hayes and Jesper Fast, and kept getting a regular shift in the third period when coach Alain Vigneault cut down his bench.
“I thought he had a good game,” Vigneault said. “I tried to pace him a little bit with everything that happened today. ... I thought he made some good plays and it was a good start for him.”
Spooner said he was “disappointed” when he heard about the trade, having played all of his five-plus years in the Bruins system. He could still be flipped by the deadline, and is a restricted free agent with arbitration rights after this season.
“It was tough for me,” Spooner said. “I was with those guys for 5 ¹/2 years. It was kind of sad to go. But at the same time, it’s a great team here.”
Center Peter Holland cleared waivers, but was not immediately sent to Hartford.
Ryan McDonagh, who was seriously being considered as a trade piece, missed his ninth straight game with an unspecified upper-body injury. Vigneault said he skated Sunday along with
Kevin Shattenkirk (knee surgery) and Ondrej Pavelec (MCL sprain).