A slam dunk goal-against on a two-on-two just 19 seconds into last night’s match sure didn’t help Henrik Lundqvist shake off eight days of rust, er rest.
“Of course I can feel that I haven’t played for a while and to start the game giving up a goal right away was tough,” said The King, whose return to nets for the first time since Nov. 3 ended in a 5-3 loss to the Thrashers, which Atlanta sealed with an empty-netter. “I battled…
“The whole night was a big battle. They didn’t have that many shots but they got pretty big scoring chances. It was tough to play, but I tried to stay in there and tried to play my game.”
Lundqvist, who missed his scheduled start on Saturday in Calgary because of a right thigh or groin issue that required treatment, made several spectacular saves, including a left pad save on Max Afinogenov, alone in front, 8:45 into the opening period.
“I could feel I made some technical mistakes, pushing forward too much,” said Lundqvist, 1-4 in his last five starts. “It is something I have to work on.”
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Perhaps coincidence, perhaps not, but without primary penalty killers Chris Drury and Brandon Dubinsky in the lineup, the Blueshirts yielded two power play goals (2-for-5) in a game for first time since the 7-2 loss on Oct. 19 to San Jose and only the second time this season. The Rangers came into the match with the league’s second-best penalty kill record at 86.6 percent.
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Donald Brashear, who had missed the previous four and seven or the previous nine with a bruised right wrist, played the 1,000th game of his NHL career. No. 87, who fought Eric Boulton on his first shift, got 3:28 of ice time. Fourth-line mates Dane Byers and Aaron Voros got 5:47 and 4:11, respectively.
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The Blueshirts were 1-for-4 in 6:34 of power-play time, with Marian Gaborik getting his 13th of the year by converting a sharp cross ice Michael Del Zotto feed. John Tortorella took a timeout with 8:47 remaining in the third (and 1:00 remaining on the team’s final power play) to keep the first unit on for the duration.
The Rangers have scored 18 power-play goals overall. Ales Kotalik has been on the ice for 17, Vinny Prospal for 16, Gaborik and Del Zotto for 15 and Ryan Callahan for 14. Del Zotto has been on for all 15 of the 5-on-4 goals.
Artem Anisimov and Brian Boyle each scored rebound goals going to the net. . . . Gaborik, who had seven shots on net, was denied on a breakaway by Johan Hedberg with a little more than three minutes remaining in the second, just over a minute after his power play goal tied the score 2-2.