As he sat at his stall in the aftermath of another game that played out like too many have in recent weeks, Henrik Lundqvist was asked for his state of mind, given all that’s happened lately.
After not having lost four straight games in regulation since 2011 before this season, the Rangers have now done it twice this month, the latest letdown coming in a 7-4 loss to the Flyers in a Sunday matinee at the Garden.
The Rangers’ front office capped off the first four-game skid with a waving of the white flag, announcing its intent to rebuild. General manager Jeff Gorton said the club’s decisions moving forward would not be aimed at trying to save this season.
The next day, coach Alain Vigneault said his team was “a goaltender getting on a roll” away from being back in the playoff hunt, citing inconsistent play from his netminders.
The tearing down has hardly begun, but in the interim, it’s only gotten uglier, especially for the franchise’s longest-tenured player. Lundqvist allowed all seven goals on 37 shots Sunday, just a day after he gave up five goals on 27 shots and got pulled early in Ottawa.
“It’s terrible. Absolutely terrible,” Lundqvist said. “You live for this. It means so much to all of us that when you don’t win, when you don’t get the result, you just have to work really hard to get that feeling that you need in the room to play your best. It’s not a good feeling right now.”
As the Rangers (27-28-5) lost for the 11th time in their last 14 games, Lundqvist was hung out to dry for a full 60 minutes Sunday. The seven goals were the most Lundqvist has allowed in a game this season and only the fourth time in his career that the 35-year-old has allowed at least seven goals in a game.
At the other end of the ice, it was a Flyers rookie who shut down the Blueshirts. Alex Lyon started the second period, in his fourth career game, in place of the injured Michal Neuvirth and after allowing an early goal to Peter Holland that tied the game at four, he went on to stop everything else over the final 34:13.
“This is definitely not a pleasant time for us,” coach Alain Vigneault said. “This is demanding on everyone. At the end of the day, it’s our jobs. You gotta come to the rink and work to get better and give your best shot. That goes for everybody and coaches are there to push the players.”
The Rangers had fought back from a pair of one-goal deficits to tie the game on Holland’s first goal as a Ranger, but Lundqvist couldn’t stop the bleeding. He allowed a fifth goal on the Flyers’ 18th shot of the game — a Travis Konecny wrister from in close at 15:40 of the second period – and this time the Blueshirts had no answer.
“We are playing dumb defensively,” said winger Mats Zuccarello, who tied the game at three near the end of a wild first period. “[We’re] letting people beat us to the pucks, letting people beat us in front of the net, tips, and getting beat up the ice. They got some easy goals today.”
For the 15th time this season, and second in as many days, Lundqvist allowed a goal on one of the first three shots he faced. On Sunday it was the Flyers’ third shot that found a way through, though it only got worse from there.
“I gotta be better,” Lundqvist said. “Obviously there’s a lot of mistakes. … I just gotta start with myself. [To] somehow find energy and confidence to play your game, it’s hard. You try to convince yourself you’re trying to do the right things out there, but it’s hard when you give up so many goals to stay confident and make that extra save.”