NHL

RANGERS KNOW SCORE WITH LUNDQVIST

BECAUSE the two goals that changed everything in Game 3 came on shots taken from behind Henrik Lundqvist, it is of tremendous reassurance that he has nothing to put behind him.

“Henrik played very well, yes he did,” John Tortorella said yesterday, the good news that also broadcasts the bad news. In Game 3, the Rangers goalie had to be as excellent to lose only 4-0 to the Capitals as he was in winning Game 2 1-0. That leaves a lot of correcting to be done for Game 4 tonight at the Garden, but it also leaves the Rangers a chance.

The Capitals went east-west for two early Alexander Semin dunks, then Tom Poti’s goal to complete the scoring. But the Rangers goalie, flashing most brilliantly in stopping Viktor Kozlov on consecutive point-blankers with the score 2-0, showed no sign of a game going south.

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“Everybody was disappointed we didn’t win, but we have to remind ourselves that if anybody asked us if we would have a 2-1 lead after three games we would definitely take it,” Lundqvist said yesterday. “You have to go in tomorrow and feel good and not fear.”

Usually when a team says it can’t afford to fear you can smell its fear. Then again, sometimes fear is too easy to presume off one potential series-turning game.

For certain, the Capitals are the more talented team and suddenly have a goalie matching Lundqvist’s confidence. The Rangers eventually got around to actually spending a little time in the Washington zone but rookie Simeon Varlamov, square to the shooters, was relying on a lot more than beginner’s luck.

All that said, the Rangers remain a couple goals and a handful of huge Lundqvist stops from taking a 3-1 series lead — even if it doesn’t feel like it. Even if Chris Drury is playing with one arm. Even if the Alexander Ovechkin bomb (not yet a goal despite four assists) is due to go off.

Even if the Capitals, though down 2-1, nevertheless have more margin for error due to the explosive nature of their team.

“I know every goal could be the difference and that we have only scored once in two games,” Lundqvist said. “But the game before we scored four.

“We know we can do it, we have a lot of good forwards who hopefully can make it a lot tougher for their goalie tomorrow night.

“We were a little more spread out in our own zone, that’s why they got those passes across. We just have to adjust a few things that we can play a little bit better.”

When Semin and Nicklas Backstrom stepped it up considerably in Game 3 to match the energy Ovechkin has been providing since the series started, it amped up the anxiety for a defense that doesn’t have a superior puck mover.

But the Rangers are well coached and probably will settle down, a process that almost always proceeds more efficiently when a team retains faith in its netminder.

A goaltender, after all, is there to provide the ultimate correction for any mistake. And when a team has a goalie like Henrik Lundqvist, it will keep the faith that things always are correctible.