The Rangers’ world is built on the premise they will receive superior goaltending from Henrik Lundqvist night after night after night.
And following yet another revival meeting chaired by The King in which his teammates owned the boards and the battles from the get-go in a 4-1 victory over the Flyers Sunday night, in a routinely nasty one between the Patrick, uh, Atlantic, er, Metropolitan rivals at the Garden, the Earth again is round for the Blueshirts, 8-2-1 in their last 11 matches.
“The last few weeks I’ve been consistent in the way I play my game,” Lundqvist, who is 5-1-1 with a 2.37 GAA and .922 save percentage. while starting seven of the past eight games, said after making key saves early in the match on the way to constructing his first three-game winning streak of the season. “I got tested early, and you gain confidence when you make a couple of good saves early on.
“I just try to take it period by period, be as solid as I can, and help the team get points.”
The Rangers owned the boards and the battles from the get-go and amassed a 60-35 advantage in shot attempts through two periods, much of that edge owed to the five straight power plays worth 11:15 of time the Blueshirts earned over a stretch of 21:10 from midway through the first through the midpoint of the second.
By the time the Flyers’ parade to the box began, however, the Rangers were already up 3-0, having scored twice within a 28-second span at 2:14 and 2:42 and then again at 9:24.
Daniel Carcillo got the first one, capitalizing on an Adam Hall turnover off a hard forecheck to beat Ray Emery on a wrap-around. Rick Nash then buried a right circle wrist shot after Chris Kreider’s work below the goal line won the puck from Braydon Coburn. Derick Brassard finished the flurry with a sizzling left circle one-timer off a neat feed from Mats Zuccarello after the fearless Norwegian won the puck on the wall from Nicklas Grossmann.
“When you come out like that, it deflates [the other team’s] energy a little bit,” Marc Staal said. “Playing [the Flyers] is always fun.
“It’s competitive, intense and chippy.”
Speaking of Carcillo, the winger has provided sandpaper to the lineup in his three games since being acquired on Jan. 4 from the Kings for a conditional seventh-round draft pick. The condition, The Post has learned, is No. 13 remains on the roster the remainder of the season. If not, the pick reverts to the Rangers.
In that case, he would become the hockey equivalent of baseball’s Harry Chiti, the catcher who was traded from the Indians to the Mets in 1962 for a player to be named later … who turned out a couple of months later to be none other than himself.
At this point, however, and early as it may be, Carcillo has played a useful role in joining Dominic Moore and Brian Boyle on the fourth line. The winger had eight hits in 8:38 on Friday night against Dallas. Sunday, in 9:42, he scored, recorded two hits, had words from the bench for Wayne Simmonds late in the first, fought Luke Schenn at 7:05 of the second when it was 3-0, and became entangled with Scott Hartnell with 11 seconds remaining in the match, setting off a fight between Brayden Schenn and John Moore in which the Ranger defenseman appeared to have his eye gouged.
“It’s not the best spot for it [but] there are only so many times you can be asked,” said Carcillo, explaining why he dropped the gloves with his team up 3-0. “It was the 15th time by five different guys.”
The Rangers extended the lead to 4-0 on Kreider’s power-play goal at 13:18 of the second, and then essentially played running time in the third, the Flyers owning a 15-7 advantage in shots and 24-9 edge in attempts. But as he was early, Lundqvist was indefatigable late, beaten only on a screened power-play drive by Mark Streit at 6:49.
“One thing leads to another,” Lundqvist said in analyzing his improvement. “I’ve been more patient and making saves gives you confidence, which allows you to be more patient.
“I still have work to do, but I’m happy.”
And when Lundqvist is happy, the sun is shining on the Rangers’ universe.