It’s hard to think of another time this season when Henrik Lundqvist smiled quite like he did on Thursday night, easy and bright and full of confidence, his seat in the corner of the Rangers’ dressing room at the Garden again seeming to be his throne.
From underneath the Broadway Hat, it was Lundqvist, The King, as the star of the show, putting up 38 saves in a hard-earned 1-0 win over the Red Wings, his third shutout of the season and first since Oct. 31 against the Sabres.
It was one in which Lundqvist had no other choice but to shine, waiting just over 54 minutes until Mats Zuccarello dribbled one into the opposing net, less a singular play of brilliance more than it was the ugly yet effective karmic result of a game the Blueshirts deserved.
“The second half you could tell, as we got closer to the end, I think we both felt the next mistake was going to be the difference,” Lundqvist said. “And it was.”
When Zuccarello finished a nice give-and-go with Derick Brassard, he tried to make a cross-ice pass from in close that bounced off the stick of defenseman Brian Lashoff and just between the blocker of Jimmy Howard and the near post, a floating dribbler the only one of the Rangers’ 48 shots that was able to beat the Red Wings goaltender all night.
“It was kind one of those games with two really good goalies, two good teams out there getting a lot of chances,” said Zuccarello, now tied for the team lead with 12 goals. “So in one of those, it’s typical that a goal like that is going to decide the game.”
On Tuesday, Lundqvist found himself in another goaltending duel, this time with the Lightning’s Ben Bishop. That one ended with Bishop getting the better of it, a 2-1 Tampa Bay win that spoiled a good performance from both Lundqvist and his team.
But on this night, Lundqvist was not going to be outdone, and his performance took the Rangers to 25-21-3, with a streak of 9-3-1 in their past 13 as they prepare for a weekend back-to-back, starting Saturday afternoon in Ottawa followed Sunday night at home against the Capitals.
Lundqvist shut down two first-period power plays for the Red Wings (20-17-10), and with 44 seconds remaining, a Gustav Nyquist shot hit the post behind his glove and then bounced against the back of his leg. Before it could cross the goal line, Lundqvist turned and covered it, making everybody in the building hold their collective breath for the longest of seconds.
“You kind of wait for a reaction when you hear it hit the post, and when you don’t get a reaction you know it’s behind you somewhere, so you don’t want to make too big of a move, so I just turned around and it was right there,” Lundqvist said. “It’s fun when you get some puck luck, and maybe I earned it after a few that were tough bounces.”
Those bounces seemed to encapsulate Lundqvist through the first part of this season, when he struggled before and after signing his seven-year, $59.5 million contract extension on Dec. 4. Yet in starting nine of the past 10 games, Lundqvist is 6-2-1 and hasn’t given up more than two goals in the last five.
It’s been a turnaround that prompted defenseman and fellow Swede Anton Stralman to declare, “Hank’s back!” after the game. When that was brought to Lundqvist’s attention, he finally was able to respond to that sentiment without reservation.
“I’m getting there,” Lundqvist said, that smile on his face stretching from ear to ear.