NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Henrik Lundqvist laughed and smiled, sweat still dripping from his face and his pads still on, having just come off the ice at the Bridgestone Arena following a hard pregame workout.
That was because later on Saturday night against the Predators, he was not the Rangers starting goaltender, instead watching as Cam Talbot pitched his second straight shutout, this one being a 2-0 win where he faced just 17 shots.
So Lundqvist was talking about the system that was currently being implemented, the one that was put into place two seasons ago, when it was finally realized his best chance for success wasn’t playing over 70 games a season, but more like 60 or 65.
And that first season it was in place, Lundqvist just happened to go on and win the Vezina Trophy as the league’s top goalie while carrying his team to the Eastern Conference finals.
“The first time we tried it and it was probably my best season,” he said. “The games now are so intense that it takes a lot out of you. Especially when you can’t afford too many mistakes, you have to be really sharp. If you want to stay up there, you have to stay fresh.”
Lundqvist is a fierce competitor, and admittedly wants to play every game. So when goalie coach Benoit Allaire approached him on the ice at Centennial Sportsplex here during Friday’s practice, Lundqvist knew what was coming.
“In the past, maybe I got more disappointed,” Lundqvist said. “But now I realize, it’s better for me, it’s better for the team. It’s part of the plan.”
It also helps that Talbot has taken full advantage of his opportunity, which only arose as Martin Biron’s shaky start to the year forced him into retirement and opened up the position of Lundqvist’s understudy.
“Cam is playing so well that he deserves to play,” Lundqvist said. “It’s working good for all of us.”
In Talbot’s six starts, he is now 5-1 and has given up just six goals on 158 total shots. Obviously those numbers are unsustainable, but coach Alain Vigneault sees more in the 26-year-old rookie than just a hot stretch.
“He’s a first-year player that is developing and getting better,” Vigneault said. “For me, I don’t just look at the performance, I look at practice and how well a guy prepares himself. And he has done everything I would expect a player to do that wants to become the best that he can be.”
Vigneault said he had this game picked out for Talbot a while back, as it’s the second game of a five-game road trip, and the start of a nine-game stretch to be played in 15 nights. Talbot was going to get three of those starts, and the other two will be one leg of their two back-to-backs — one of which is at the end of this trip, the Friday afternoon after Thanksgiving in Boston, followed by the return of John Tortorella and the Canucks Saturday night in the Garden.
It would have made sense if Vigneault wavered a bit on the schedule after Lundqvist’s all-world performance Thursday night in Dallas, but he stuck to his guns and still rested him for the following game.
“Hank has been playing extremely well for quite some time,” Vigneault said. “So when you look at the schedule, we identified this was for Cam and I wasn’t changing my mind.”
So Lundqvist sat and watched, allowing himself to think more how he achieved the success of two years ago rather than his own immediate competitive drive.
“A lot of times for a team,” Lundqvist said, “confidence starts with the goalie.”