In one corner of the Garden rink last night stood the old man who has stoned Father Time’s incessant breakaways, who has kept the notion that 40-year-old goaltenders are over the hill out of his net, who was looking to glove his fourth Stanley Cup and maybe, just maybe, skate off into the sunset as arguably the greatest of all time: Martin Brodeur.
But at the opposite end of the Garden rink stood the man they call The King, who was looking to glove his first Stanley Cup at the end of a season in which he stood on his head in an effort to win the Vezina Trophy, the stylish, 30-year-old heart throb serenaded with chants of “MVP” and “Hen-rik” from an apoplectic Garden that was imploring him, pleading with him, to carry its hopes and dreams back to the future, back to 1994: The King, Henrik Lundqvist.
Rangers 3, Devils 0.
The King 1, Brodeur 0.
Shift after shift, minute after minute, ooohh after ooohh and ahhh after ahhh from the mesmerized crowd, the scoreboard didn’t budge: RANGERS 0 DEVILS 0.
Twenty minutes left. Or more.
The goaltenders wouldn’t blink.
The King’s steely-eyed focus and competitiveness were on full display for both sides of the Hudson to see on one sequence in the second period when he was forced to stone Zach Parise three times in succession from in close on the Rangers’ anemic power play: “Hen-rik … Hen-rik … Hen-rik.”
“We’ve always said there’s players that step up at certain time in games with big blocks or a big goal, big hits,” backup Rangers goalie Marty Biron said. “But you know at some point in any game, that one player that’s gonna come up with a big play, it’s gonna be Henrik.”
Finally, Brodeur blinked.
He blinked when Chris Kreider used those young, dynamic, powerful, rookie legs to beat Marek Zidlicky to the puck in the corner, passed back to Dan Girardi, who wound up and fired a 40-foot one-timer past Brodeur in the opening minute of the third period: “Mar-ty … Mar-ty … Mar-ty.”
The King never blinked.
Against Brodeur, you dare not show up as The Pauper.
“It’s exciting and inspiring to play against the top guys,” The King said. “It’s always been fun.”
Soon he would deny Ilya Kovalchuk from point blank range: “Hen-rik … Hen-rik … Hen-rik.”
Brodeur, with Matteau, Matteau, Matteau in the house, kept it 1-0 sprawling to his right to stop Marc Staal midway through the third period.
Then he blinked again.
Artem Anisimov fed a streaking Kreider, who beat Brodeur with a 20-foot slap shot: “Mar-ty … Mar-ty … Mar-ty.”
Rangers 2, Devils 0.
The Kid and The King, on the Broadway throne.
“A goalie like that, you feel extremely comfortable,” Kreider said.
One by one in the Rangers’ dressing room, they lavished verbal gifts on The King.
“It seems like every save’s a little bit different or a little bit tougher as we go along here,” Ryan McDonagh said.
For Lundqvist, who made 21 saves, this is his chance to validate his rise to the top of the Vezina Trophy conversation, because these are the series and these are the stages and these are the moments where and when legacies are built and legends are made.
“I think sometimes you take it for granted … we should have been behind by a few after two periods,” Mike Rupp said, “so after the game you realize, ‘We need to be better.’ But that’s why we give him a big pat on the pads after the game.”
Girardi had uncharacteristically looked more like Joe Girardi with the puck and Staal also looked uneasy lugging it on one occasion, but a great goalie is a great deodorizer, and Lundqvist snared a dead-on wrist shot from Adam Henrique and then denied a shorthanded backhand from Parise with frantic help from McDonagh: “Hen-rik … Hen-rik … Henrik.”
Brodeur stopped Marian Gaborik from in close, then Michael Del Zotto, early in the second period.
This was the old gunslinger eyeball-to-eyeball, mask-to-mask, glove to-glove and stick to stick, with the new sheriff in town, and not as quick on the draw.
“They’re not good, they’re great, and they’re fun to watch,’’ Rangers 1994 Cup-winning goaltender Mike Richter said before the game on ESPN Radio. “I only hope that the series has enough scoring chances to allow them to show the wares ’cause they’re incredible to watch.”
Game Won. Game Wonqvist.