VANCOUVER, British Columbia — The dirty old chapeau atop Henrik Lundqvist’s head was a crown fit for a King.
Because on a night the Rangers were in desperate need of a victory after going the first three games and what seems like a million miles without one, it was the goaltender’s exceptional performance while under siege that propelled his team to a 4-0 triumph over the Canucks last night and earned him the hat that will be awarded to the player-of-the-game after each win.
“The hat sort of found its way back with us from Europe; just we’re going to use it as a little reminder of how we came together over there,” said Brad Richards, who came up with the concept and awarded the hat to the netminder. “It’s another way for us to bond.”
Lundqvist was the bond that kept the Rangers (1-1-2) together until through two scoreless periods in which the team had been outshot 28-9 and out-attempted 59-23 — including by a seemingly impossible 39-10 in the second — until Mike Rupp buried a rebound at 2:22 of the third to open the floodgates on Roberto Luongo.
“I’m wearing this hat with a lot of pride,” said Lundqvist, who managed to look stylishly jaunty wearing the beat-up black fedora following the 40-save performance that earned him his 36th career shutout. “It looks good.”
Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder, but Lundqvist was a sight to behold last night. He was exceptionally quick while squared to the shooter all night long and then on balance to be in the perfect position for every rebound and on every scramble around his net.
“It was intense, but I had a couple of good days of practice where I really focused,” Lundqvist said. “It’s really been tough [not winning.]”
As is the pattern, the Rangers made it difficult on themselves by again parading to the penalty box, After being shorthanded 19 times through the opening three games, the Rangers were down a man eight times, five times through the first 40 minutes.
On Monday, coach John Tortorella had his players do 10 pushups apiece on the ice after a penalty was committed during a practice scrimmage.
Last night, Tortorella benched Brandon Prust after the forward took a brain-dead, offensive zone holding the stick penalty at 13:18 that gave Vancouver its first of six consecutive power plays through the early minutes of the third period. The winger did not get another shift until 1:20 of the thirdawhen he made the headman feed to Michael Del Zotto that launched the Rangers’ first scoring play.
“We have a lot to work on, but winning at this point is more important than how we did it,” Tortorella said. “I hope that this give us some confidence and juice that we’ve been lacking.”
The second period in which the Rangers were pinned so thoroughly and relentlessly that Lundqvist became visibly agitated midway through, actually resembled a couple of astonishingly lopsided periods the team survived last season.
“We came in after that period knowing we were one good road period from winning,” Ryan Callahan said. “It may sound strange, but having gotten through that period still tied, we came into the room uplifted and excited.”
After Lundqvist did the heavy lifting, Rupp sent a left circle scorcher up top and Ryan McDonagh made it 2-0 from the slot at 9:57 before Brian Boyle and Marian Gaborik sealed it.
“We know how it works, how you can be outplayed for 50 minutes, but that one shot can change it,” said Lundqvist, the King wearing the Rangers’ very own crown.