Henrik Lundqvist came off the practice ice on Saturday tired — tired from a long and hard workout, tired from the drain of five consecutive starts, tired from the mental anguish that has been the start to this middling season.
That is not to say that he won’t be fresh come Sunday night, when he plays his sixth straight game as the Flames come to the Garden. But the Blueshirts are 15-17-1, have started this season-high nine-game homestand 0-3-1, and since signing his seven-year, $59.5 million extension on Dec. 4, Lundqvist has won just one game out of five.
“When things go against you, you want to turn it around even more, you work even harder,” Lundqvist said. “Sometimes you need to take a step back and take a deep breath and just stick to what you know and what you’ve been doing for years.”
That step back could have been the past two days, the time the team has had to practice since Thursday’s disheartening 4-2 loss to the Blue Jackets. But even Lundqvist admitted there already have been a lot of those moments over the opening 33 games of this season, and it hasn’t been easy to gain a semblance of traction.
“It’s a fine line,” he said. “When you want to turn things around, you want to win, you try so hard you might beat yourself. I know with me, you have to be smart and you can’t do too much. You have to try and play your game and keep things simple.”
One thing being made very clear is coach Alain Vigneault is going to put his team on the back of Lundqvist and ride him as far as the 31-year-old netminder will take him.
And really, who can blame him?
“Hank is our best player,” Vigneault said. “He’s been the best player for the New York Rangers for some time now. There is no doubt in anybody’s mind here or anywhere that when they talk about the Rangers, that for us to win games and have success, we need our best player to be on top of his game.”
The numbers for Lundqvist are not pretty. He is 9-14-1 with a 2.71 goals-against average. His .910 save percentage places him 27th in the league, and would be the worst of his career if the season ended today.
He started the season with looming free agency obviously on his mind, and although he never used it as an excuse, it clearly was something that never was too far away. He also dealt with a small injury that sidelined him for two games, lost his good friend and backup goalie Martin Biron — whose fall off in play got him placed on waivers before he eventually retired, joining the on-air MSG television crew — and has had to answer a slew of questions about 26-year-old rookie backup Cam Talbot — who is ranked fourth in the league with a .934 save percentage in 10 games.
“When you go through a stretch where you’re not playing 100 percent, you just have to work harder,” Lundqvist said, not referring to his health at all, as he previously has stated that physically, he is in top condition. “At the same time, you don’t want to do too much. You still want to keep your game simple and not complicate anything. We all know what we have to do, we all know what we have to work on to get it done.”
For Vigneault’s team to get it done, he needs Lundqvist. That is apparent now more than ever.
“He’s the guy,” Vigneault said, “so he’s playing.”