This isn’t about all the King’s horses and this isn’t about all the King’s men, culpable as they all were in the Rangers’ five-alarm 6-2 loss to the Flyers at the Garden last night.
This, instead is about King Henrik Lundqvist, without whose superiority in nets the Rangers have turned into a bunch of Humpty Dumptys apparently unable to put themselves together again.
Hockey, of course, is a team game, and it was not Lundqvist alone who collapsed after the Blueshirts had taken a 2-0 lead within the first eight minutes of the match on a pair of Ryan Hollweg goals.
Indeed, there were brain cramps and blunders aplenty, more than enough to go around in the club’s fifth straight defeat (0-4-1), the Rangers’ longest losing streak of the season.
The most significant of these gaffes was committed by Chris Drury, of all people, who was penalized for tossing his stick to Dan Girardi after the defenseman had broken his own while killing a five-on-three with 15 seconds to play in the first period.
When the Flyers scored 40 seconds into the second, the Rangers were out on their feet even while still in the lead.
“I take full responsibility for the loss,” Drury told The Post. “I didn’t know you couldn’t do that, but that’s no excuse at all. It’s my fault for not knowing the rule.
“We were ahead 2-0 when I did that and then they scored six unanswered goals. Of course it’s my fault.”
Of course Drury’s blunder did not help the team, but he was hardly a lone gunmen. Rather, the defeat that extended the ninth-place Rangers’ slide to 5-10-3 since Dec. 3, was the result of a conspiracy. And it was the result of yet another sub-par performance by Lundqvist, 4-7-3 in his last 13 starts with a 3.49 GAA and an .850 save percentage.
If the numbers are ugly, so, too, are the goals Lundqvist has been surrendering; pretty much a bad one a game, if not more. Few teams can survive that; teams as fragile as the Rangers have no chance.
Last night’s tying goal was scored at 8:45 of the second because of the netminder’s indecision playing a potential icing. The third goal – the winner -was scored on a shot from the left corner that originated from below the goal line.
“I can’t let in goals like these in a game like this; I have to better,” Lundqvist said. “I think as a team we’re fighting the game right now, and the same goes for me.
“I want to be the one to make the difference for our team, and I haven’t been. It’s very disappointing, but I’m not going to give up.”
Lundqvist’s father, Peter, underwent brain surgery in Sweden in mid-December after suffering an aneurysm. On Monday, the goaltender said his dad was recovering very well. At the same time, Lundqvist’s agent, Don Meehan, is conducting negotiations with GM Glen Sather on a long-term deal.
“I can’t blame this on anything that’s going on around me, whether it’s my dad or the contract,” Lundqvist told The Post. “It’s all about my game.
“I don’t have any excuses.”
Drury had no excuse. Lundqvist had no excuse. The Rangers had and have no excuses. Neither did Humpty Dumpty, and look what happened to him.
Flyers 6 Rangers 2