Repeat after me: Henrik Lundqvist is the least of the Rangers’ issues approaching Thursday night’s second try at nailing down the Eastern Conference championship.
Beyond that, Lundqvist is no issue whatsoever for this Game 6 at the Garden against Montreal in what has become an increasingly bitter series that will drive this rivalry for years to come.
No doubt, the King had as bad a game as nearly all of his teammates in Tuesday’s semi-meltdown of a 7-4 defeat in Montreal. The second goal, scored by Tomas Plekanec on a long and seemingly routine shot just 1:40 after Derek Stepan had tied the score 1-1, was a killer for a jittery team that did almost nothing right in front of Lundqvist and needed him to be as superior as he was in his 40-save Game 2 victory.
Lundqvist appeared a bit sluggish. For whatever it is worth, he wasn’t sharp at all at the morning skate. There is no doubt coach Alain Vigneault did the right thing by first pulling the goaltender at 8:58 of the second with the Rangers trailing 4-1 and then not going back to him for the start of the third with the Canadiens in front 5-4.
You know from the minute he was removed from the game after allowing those four goals on 19 shots (or maybe within 15 minutes thereafter), Lundqvist had put Game 5 behind him and had begun to focus on Game 6, and, as he likes to say, the challenge and opportunity of closing out a series at the Garden.
That is what it is to him. Of all his attributes, this might be the most important of all: He does not shrink from the stage. He embraces the big moment. Thursday night, Game 6 is a big moment, believe me.
The Rangers have won more playoff series (five) than every team in the NHL in the past three years other than Los Angeles (eight) and Chicago (six) while playing more games (51) than any team other than the Kings (57). But in that span they never have been here, one win away from competing for the Stanley Cup.
Following his hat trick in Montreal on Tuesday, Rene Bourque mused about the goaltending matchup between Lundqvist and Montreal’s emergency replacement rookie for Carey Price, Dustin Tokarski.
“Everybody talks about how … he’s a great goalie,” the Montreal winger said. “Has he been better than [Tokarski] this series? I don’t think so.”
Some people wondered if this were bulletin board material, but the truth is a defense against slander. Tokarski has won two of the last three, going beyond save for save with Lundqvist, somehow stopping pucks in an aggressive and unorthodox manner that has baffled the Blueshirts.
Rick Nash had the right idea when he fired on net from a sharp left wing angle to score the Rangers’ second goal on Tuesday when it glanced in off Josh Gorges’ stick. Tokarski is all over the place following initial saves and often leaves pucks at the goalmouth. But the Blueshirts haven’t been able to gobble them up and capitalize. They are overpassing, looking for the perfect play, and especially so on the power play in Game 5.
Trailing 2-1 after the first period and with the man advantage for 33 seconds to start the second, the Blueshirts didn’t record their first shot until Nash scored at 9:48. In the third, trailing 5-4 with the Canadiens a man up for the first 25 seconds, it took the Blueshirts 7:59 to get a shot on Tokarski.
The Rangers were able to mind their own business through the first two series against Philadelphia and Pittsburgh that were devoid of controversy. When the Flyers or Penguins wanted to engage, the Blueshirts simply skated away. The Canadiens, though, have been playing mind games since the day after Game 1 and have gotten in the Rangers’ heads.
It has been about theatrics all the way for Montreal, from the aspersions cast on Chris Kreider and Derek Stepan, to the offensive display at the Garden at which coach Michel Therrien attempted to enforce a non-existent “gentleman’s agreement,” to the dramatized flopping all over the ice.
And how about the organization leaving the net off its pegs at the Rangers’ end when the club came on for Game 4’s warmup, leaving it to Brad Richards to lift the cage and put it in place as if he were a lad playing Pee Wee hockey? Apparently there is a first for everything.
But all of the extracurriculars have adversely affected the Rangers, who lost their composure most of Game 5 after enduring and ultimately overcoming stretches where they lacked poise in Game 4. The Rangers haven’t taken penalties like this all year. They are off track for the first time since losing Game 4 to Pittsburgh. But the Canadiens are a much tougher opponent than the Penguins.
The Rangers want this so badly they can taste it. But so do the Canadiens. The Blueshirts must remain in control of their emotions, dispense with personal agendas, and remember what brought them to the brink of this success in the first place.
Their advantage is in nets. Of course it is. This isn’t about legacies. This is about now, about closing out the Canadiens and advancing to the finals for the first time in 20 years. It is imperative the Rangers exploit that advantage in Game 6.
This is the King’s Castle and Lundqvist will be ready for his moment.