NHL

Rangers’ Lundqvist defends crease to the ‘Max’

MONTREAL — The Swedish Billy Smith, not quite, but Henrik Lundqvist threw some haymakers with his blocker hand at Max Pacioretty that would have made the Islanders’ dynastic Battlin’ Billy proud after jumping on the Montreal winger following a late second-period collision in the crease in which the goaltender had been knocked down.

“I felt like he didn’t try to stop. That’s why I went after him,” Lundqvist said after the Rangers’ 3-2 loss to the Canadiens last night. “There was a lot of energy out there. It’s something that happened.

“If I get knocked into but I feel the player tries to stop then that’s not going to happen,” he said. “But I can’t stay calm all the time, and in this building it’s hard to stay calm.”

Lundqvist was given a two-minute minor for roughing. Pacioretty, who crashed into Lundqvist full boar, was given two minutes for goaltender interference plus another two minutes for closing his hand on the puck.

Whatever.

“I loved it,” coach John Tortorella said of Lundqvist’s response. “I thought it was terrific. I loved his emotion.”

The Rangers have allowed 29 goals in their last six visits here, often surrendering scores in bunches as they did last night in yielding three within 2:44 late in the first period.

The Blueshirts had allowed three goals in their previous three games, winning in St. Louis 2-1 last Saturday, losing to the Canadiens at the Garden on Tuesday 2-1, then blanking the Canucks 1-0 at home on Thursday.

“I don’t know if all their home games against everybody else are like the ones we play, but our games here are wild,” Lundqvist said. “They get so much energy from their fans. It seems like they’re right on top of you, and there are always crazy bounces and momentum changes that makes it hard to stay calm.

“The key is to stay within yourself, but what happens a lot instead is that you try to do too much, and that goes for me too,” he said. “You just have to keep it simple and stay calm, but it’s not easy.”

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Marian Gaborik endured his seventh straight without scoring and is stuck on 11 goals in 32 games.

Gaborik, who rarely had the puck through two periods playing with Derek Stepan and Wojtek Wolski, was more of a force in the third after moving to a unit with Artem Anisimov and Brandon Dubinsky. Gaborik had three shots on Carey Price in 20:21 that led the forwards in ice time.

Wolski, who was moved to a line with Kris Newbury and Ruslan Fedotenko for most of the third had one shot in 15:02 but fired wide from point-blank range at 7:55 with a chance to knot the score just under a minute after Mats Zuccarello had brought the Blueshirts within 3-2 at 6:57.

Sean Avery, effective at getting the puck in deep and kick-starting the cycle on every one of his shifts, finished with 9:46 of ice (3:50 in the third), second-fewest on the club to Kris Newbury‘s 7:29.

Rangers cut down to five defenseman for the final 10 minutes, with Ryan McDonagh, who finished with a total of 10:47, the odd man out. Dan Girardi, so effective pinching, played 10:55 in the third.

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Rangers have failed to score more than two goals in any of their last eight games, getting a total of 11 in going 4-3-1. They have been shut out once, held to one goal three times and limited to two, four times.

Blueshirts went 0-for-4 on the power play, generating five shots overall in 7:05 after failing to get a shot on net on the first two man advantages. Rangers are 2-for-29 in their last nine games.

Ryan Callahan, who hopes to be cleared to begin skating while holding a stick when his broken left hand is re-examined today, is shooting for a Feb. 1 post-All Star break return at home against the Penguins. Callahan has missed 13 games since breaking the hand blocking a shot in Pittsburgh on Dec. 15.

After opening season in Prague two years ago, Rangers are reportedly one of six teams that will open in Europe next season. Rangers are home tonight to face the Flyers.