ST. LOUIS — None of this is what Henrik Lundqvist expected.
The Rangers franchise goaltender was preparing to sit this one out, a Saturday night at the Scottrade Center when he would be allowed to clear his head and watch backup Martin Biron carry the load.
Yet by the start of the third period, with the Rangers already down 4-2, Lundqvist was called to duty, and there was little he could do en route to a 5-3 loss.
“For me, when you come in like that, you try just to battle,” said Lundqvist, who gave up one goal on 17 shots, while Biron gave up four on the same 17. “What can I say? It was an awful trip for us, and we just have to try and stay positive.”
Lundqvist has had one of the worst weeks of his eight-year career, playing the majority of the two previous games when the team was outscored by the Sharks and Ducks by a combined score of 15-2. Coach Alain Vigneault was hoping to be able to lean on Biron in this Olympic season with many back-to-back games. Asked if his confidence in Biron was shaken, the coach was rather dismissive.
“That’s a good question,” said Vigneault, whose team next plays in Washington against the Capitals on Wednesday. “I want to take a look at the tape here and analyze the game and we’re going to shift our focus to Washington. Those are questions that are going to get answered as we go forward.”
No matter how they move forward, Lundqvist knows stretches like this happen and need to be endured.
“The good thing about hockey is it can turn around so fast,” Lundqvist said. “Sometimes you live in it so much, you feel the way you play. I always do. It could be a good thing and it could be a bad thing.”
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Vigneault showed his lack of confidence in his defensemen by dressing seven of them and just 11 forwards. Justin Falk was the blueliner who joined the lineup, making an inauspicious Blueshirts debut, taking two penalties
“I thought our D’s were fighting it a little bit,” Vigneault said. “If somebody was struggling a little bit tonight, we’d have an extra guy on the bench.”
Falk, who replaced forward Arron Asham in the lineup, played just 5:16, with no shifts in the third.
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The reason Vigneault had only 12 forwards to choose from was because star winger Rick Nash was back in New York after presumably suffering a concussion in San Jose on Tuesday. Vigneault said he had no update on Nash’s status.
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Derek Dorsett took three penalties, and two of the Blues goals were scored while he was serving them in the box.
“I knew what was going on in the game, I knew we had the momentum, and I said to myself before I got on the ice, ‘Get pucks deep, get momentum going, and don’t give a ref the option of giving you a penalty,’ ” said Dorsett, whose high-sticking call in the third period allowed Vladimir Tarasenko to take the momentum with the goal to make it 5-3. “It’s a terrible feeling.”