At the most important time of the game, the Rangers’ most important player made the biggest play. Which is exactly why the health of goalie Henrik Lundqvist is paramount after he led his Blueshirts to a 3-2 victory over the Devils Tuesday night at Prudential Center.
Just before making two monumental saves midway through the second period that paved the way for Rick Nash’s game-winning goal, Lundqvist took a hard elbow to the head from his own defenseman, Dan Girardi, which sent him to the ice dazed and blurry-eyed.
At the time, it seemed innocuous — even drawing a horrible goalie interference penalty on Travis Zajac, who was somewhat in the vicinity of Girardi at the time. But after the game, Lundqvist’s admission of neck pain was a sour note after two consecutive wins have put the Rangers’ previous three-game losing streak behind.
“I had some headaches the rest of the game,” said Lundqvist, who finished with 29 saves in his second start in as many nights. “I think it was just my neck got really tight. I didn’t see it coming at all. It just hit me and snapped my head. Hopefully I feel better tomorrow.”
Minutes before the collision, with the Devils on the power play, Lundqvist robbed Ilya Kovalchuk on a wrist shot from the slot, and then stuffed Steve Bernier on a backhanded rebound. When the puck came free and the penalty over, Nash streaked with it up the right side for a 2-on-1, and tore a shot passed Johan Hedberg and inside the far post to make it 3-2.
“I was upset about my play before the penalty, when I saw a guy on the far blue line and tried to play the puck and we ended up on the PK,” Lundqvist said about the play that resulted in an Anton Stralman trip. “So I felt it was really important to step up and help the team.”
And no better man to make good on Lundqvist’s heroics than Nash, who leads the team with 10 goals.
“I think it gives us momentum when he makes a couple big saves,” Nash said of Lundqvist. “It definitely helps us out, and that’s what he definitely did in the second period.”
The Rangers (15-12-2) are now back in the playoff picture, ahead of the Devils (13-11-6) for the eighth spot by way of tiebreaker. And it was even a good night for the Blueshirts’ inconsistent offense, getting three or more goals for just the second time in the past eight games.
“We created chances and finally scored more than one goal,” said Marian Gaborik, who has just one goal in the past 15 games, none in the past seven — but is starting to see some chances after being put together on a line with Brad Richards and Nash for two straight games. “This win was a real team win, everyone contributed. With New Jersey, the games are always tight.”
In the first period, both teams traded blows, with the Rangers twice surrendering leads. A shorthanded goal from Michael Del Zotto midway through the first was wiped clean by Zajac’s power play tally less than four minutes later, and Carl Hagelin’s stuff-in with 16:50 gone by was equalized by Anton Volchenkov’s long slap shot just 23 seconds later.
Hedberg (19 saves) was phenomenal in place of Martin Brodeur — who dressed for the first time in almost a month, but had not healed enough yet from the pinched nerve in his neck to play.
And that’s now the exact nightmare scenario for the Rangers, because it would be very difficult for Lundqvist to stand on his head, as often needed, with an injured neck.
bcyrgalis@nypost.com