(NO SAVE:
Henrik Lundqvist fails to stop a goal credited to the Devils’ Henrik Tallinder in the Rangers’ 3-2 loss last night at the Garden. NY Post: Charles Wenzelberg)
Henrik Lundqvist, pulled after allowing three goals on 12 shots to the Devils in 35:04, said he wasn’t nearly good enough. He got no argument from his coach.
John Tortorella, who signaled for Lundqvist to come to the bench the moment Brian Rolston blew a 40-footer by him to give New Jersey a 3-0 lead, insisted he wasn’t calling out his goaltender. It would sure be interesting to hear what it sounds like when he does.
Let’s call a spade a spade: Our goaltending hasn’t been there the last three games, certainly not at a level it needs to be at this time of year,” he said after last night’s 3-2 Garden defeat extended their losing streak to three games (0-2-1).
“I’m being honest with what’s going on with our club. I think we played well enough to get five out of the last six points if we get decent goaltending. I’m not calling out Hank. I need to be honest with the hockey club and everyone else. The goaltending hasn’t been good enough.
“Hank has to be our guy and he will be our guy, but he hasn’t been the last few games.”
The Rangers might have been able to beat Florida in the game before the break instead of losing 4-3, but they played uninspired hockey in falling behind 3-1 before storming back to tie, only to lose when a long shot bounced in off the back of Artem Anisimov.
The Rangers might have been able to beat Pittsburgh on Tuesday instead of losing 4-3, but Marc-Andre Fleury stopped all seven Blueshirt shooters in the skills competition, whereas Lundqvist only stopped the first six Penguins.
And the Rangers might have won last night if the King had been sharper, but they’d also have given themselves a far better chance by avoiding the succession of careless turnovers they committed and by getting the puck in deep and going to work on the forecheck over the first two periods instead of waiting for the final 20 minutes.
They might have had a better chance if Sean Avery, probably the Rangers’ most dynamic player, had gotten more than 5:50 of ice through two periods and 9:43 for the game.
For the home team didn’t begin to play Black-and-Blueshirt hockey until Tortorella united Avery with Brian Boyle (only 11:35, lowest since Nov. 14) and Brandon Prust (only 11:17) and rolled that as one of three lines down the final frenzied 10 minutes.
Lundqvist excoriated himself after the match in which he was decisively outplayed by Martin Brodeur, whose team was outshot 15-2 in the third period that ended with a Rangers deflection off the post.
“I don’t have a good explanation for why I couldn’t perform better, but we’re not going to win a hockey game if I can’t play better than that,” said Lundqvist. “I was not surprised [to be pulled] after playing the way I did. There’s no way that’s going to fly.”
The Rangers have won just three of their last nine (3-5-1). The goaltending isn’t to blame for that. They also are going through an adjustment period, re-integrating returning players into the lineup coming back from injury, including Vinny Prospal, who scored last night in his first game of the year.
But the coach doesn’t want to hear it. “It’s bull,” Tortorella said. “We could have had five out of the last six points.”
That’s his story.