NHL

Lundqvist rides to Rangers’ rescue vs. Islanders

Henrik Lundqvist has very little experience as a relief goalie in his six-year Rangers career and even less than that in that role against the Islanders, against whom he had started 27 straight before coach John Tortorella elected to go with Martin Biron in last night’s match at the Coliseum.

But Lundqvist was very sharp when called upon 12:30 into the second period with his team down 3-2 after Biron surrendered a 50-footer to Rob Schremp, stopping nine of the 11 shots he faced the rest of the way in the Blueshirts’ 6-5 victory.

“It’s realty weird for me because I hardly ever come into a game like that,” said Lundqvist, who had started every installment of the Battle of New York since Kevin Weekes lost a 4-3 game at the Garden on Dec. 19, 2006. “I worked hard in the morning at practice, but that turned out to be good for me.

“Physically it’s not an issue. It’s just you have to be ready mentally, and it’s even harder in this building because there’s no room on the bench and so you sit in the corner in the runway and are not really part of the game at all.

“Reg [Grant] came up to me and told me to get ready,” Lundqvist said, referring to the club’s conditioning coach. “I was a little surprised because it was only three goals, but then I got the signal.”

Biron, who spent last year with the Islanders, had allowed two goals or fewer in seven of his first eight starts. But he simply was not sharp last night, seeming to have issues seeing the puck that led to bad rebounds, allowing three goals on 21 shots.

“I made the change both to spark the team and because of [Biron’s play],” Tortorella said. “Marty didn’t look dead-on, and maybe in another game I would have let him fight through it, but the team looked lethargic and I wanted to switch.

“It wasn’t all on Marty, but I wanted to change the momentum.”

Trailing 3-2 upon entering the match, Lundqvist saw just one shot the remainder of the period as the Blueshirts grabbed a 4-3 lead. The King yielded two goals on 10 shots in the third.

“The change served its purpose,” Lundqvist said. “It was a wakeup call and we responded.”

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Derek Stepan
, who did not play the power-play point while at Wisconsin, played the right point on the first power play unit last night on the Blueshirts’ two advantages.

Marian Gaborik
got the second of his three goals on the power play as the Rangers went 1-for-2. Tortorella went with Stepan and Michael Del Zotto
— combined age, 40 — on the points with Gaborik, Brandon Dubinsky
and Ryan Callahan
the forward line.

The Rangers killed lone Islanders’ power play to stretch newest penalty-killing streak to 10 straight over the last four games. The Blueshirts have been perfect killers in 11 of the last 12, going 34-for-37 in that span, allowing all three goals (in six chances) in Tampa Bay on Thanksgiving Eve.

Gaborik, who double-shifted regularly on the fourth line with Artem Anisimov
(9:43) and Alex Frolov
(8:09), led forwards with 20:18.

“Gabby is so efficient as a skater and he hasn’t played a lot with the injury [shoulder] and then the flu, I think this is the way to get him going,” Tortorella said.

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The Rangers, 15-11-1 overall, are 5-2 in their last seven and 8-4 in their last 12. The Islanders, 5-13-5, are 1-1-2 in their last four and 1-12-3 in their last 16 going into tonight’s rematch on Broadway.