IN 1993-94, his rookie season, Martin Brodeur struggled at Boston Garden during the regular season. After leading the Devils to a seven-game victory over the Sabres in the first round of the playoffs, Brodeur was off his game in losing the first two at home the next round to the Bruins.
And so Jacques Lemaire turned to veteran backup Chris Terreri when the series moved to Boston for Games 3 and 4. Two victories later, the series was even and Brodeur was back in nets at home, where he posted a Game 5 shutout.
Nevertheless, Lemaire went back to Terreri for the Game 6 clincher in Boston. That, friends, stands as the last playoff game Brodeur did not start for the Devils, last night’s Game 2 against the Rangers at the Meadowlands marking his 135th straight start, the longest such streak for a single team in NHL post-season history.
Which is to suggest that if a strategic playoff benching could – and did – happen to a transcendent star such as Brodeur in his freshman season, Henrik Lundqvist has nothing but nothing to feel ashamed about in yielding the Ranger net last night to veteran back-up Kevin Weekes.
If both of his netminders were at the top of their respective games, Tom Renney would have had no goaltending decision to make last night. Lundqvist could have inscribed his own name in the lineup with indelible ink. But King Henrik of Sweden is not at the top of his game, not by a longshot, and surrendering six on Saturday in what turned into nothing less than a Game 1 Ranger debacle, only reflects his struggles.
Sensational prior to the Olympics, Lundqvist tired as the season wound down. Holes – specifically up top – began to appear in his game.
Rarely subjected to traffic in front throughout his career in Sweden and the pre-Olympic portion of the NHL season, the netminder appeared frustrated when opponents began to use that tactic against him, as the Devils did on Saturday.
“Watching the tapes of the first game, I got the sense that he never felt in the moment,” said Renney. “He looked a little out of synch.”
What’s more, Lundqvist has admitted to having difficulty responding to the enforced 18-day layoff to which he was subjected after suffering a hip flexor in Ottawa on Mar. 30. He missed seven straight before returning for the season finale last Tuesday against Ottawa in which he tired toward the end and allowed five goals.
“It’s been tough coming back after three weeks off,” Lundqvist said yesterday morning. “It’s the first time I ever had an injury that kept me out for so long, so this is a new experience for me.
“I feel that maybe a couple of good practices would be helpful for me.”
That’s the background on which Renney made his goaltending decision; the negative background, that is. The coach did have positive reinforcement for his call, that being Weekes’ fine work against the Devils not only this season (2.17 GAA in five starts), but in the 2002 playoffs when he led the Hurricanes to a six-game, first-round victory over New Jersey in allowing four goals in 206 minutes.
“I’m sort of playing a hunch, but there’s also some history there that I feel comfortable referencing,” Renney said of Weekes’ 2002 performance in which he relieved Arturs Irbe to finish it off with sterling back-to-back victories that included a 1-0 clincher at the Meadowlands. “I’ve always considered Kevin a No. 1 goaltender and believe he’ll have that status in this league for many years.”
Many years wasn’t the issue last night for the Rangers, for Weekes or for Lundqvist. Last night was the issue for the Rangers, who, in this playoff game, had a better chance to win with the backup than the No. 1, the way the Devils had a dozen years earlier.