Henrik Lundqvist will return to his customary station in nets Thursday night in Dallas after an unprecedented four consecutive games on the bench, the Blueshirts’ franchise goaltender — still the Blueshirts’ franchise goaltender — told The Post following Wednesday’s practice.
That was to be expected in the wake of the Rangers’ 2-1 defeat to the Blackhawks at the Garden on Tuesday, even if Antti Raanta was as every bit as solid in that one as through his preceding three-game winning streak that featured back-to-back shutouts.
“My expectations and the pressure I put on myself are no different now than they have always been,” Lundqvist said. “My goal is always to be at the top of my game and do what I can to help the team win. That has not changed. I don’t feel that I have anything more to prove than I ever do. I know what my job is.”
Lundqvist, 3-4-1 in his last eight starts, was asked whether he feels he will be operating under more of a microscope in the wake of coach Alain Vigneault’s noteworthy decision to sit him out for what boiled down to performance issues.
“That’s not for me to say. You probably can answer that better than I can,” he said. “I can’t worry about what people are saying on the outside. I have the same feeling and the same approach. It doesn’t change how I play or why I play.”
The Rangers have played more buttoned-down hockey in front of Raanta while surrendering just three goals in winning three of four. Cause and effect? Impossible to say, though the team did adopt more of a blue-collar approach over the last week, and the Blueshirts have more of a traditional top-six/bottom six configuration in the absence of Rick Nash, who appears ready to return after tweaking his groin in Brooklyn last Tuesday.
Vigneault was not at Wednesday’s practice, the head coach part of a contingent that attended the funeral of the venerable Bill Dineen, video coach Jerry Dineen’s dad. Associate coach Scott Arniel, who ran the show, unsurprisingly sidestepped the goaltending issue, saying with a laugh, “That’s not my department.”
Lundqvist has been the team’s department head pretty much since the moment he arrived in training camp in 2005. Jaromir Jagr was the club’s best player throughout that 2005-06 renaissance season in which the Blueshirts unexpectedly ended their seven-season playoff drought, but Lundqvist has been the marquee name above the title every year since. And when he sat this past week, his teammates noticed.
“Every guy reacts differently, but I think it was the kind of thing where you went, ‘Hmm,’” Marc Staal, a Ranger since 2007-08, told The Post. “It was different, there’s no question about that. It wasn’t like, ‘Oh, well.’
“I think you’re surprised, you know how Hank wants to get back into the net, but at the same time you don’t second-guess because you know the coach is making the decision based on what he believes gives the team the best chance to win the game. In the end, that’s why we’re here.
“It’s not a topic of conversation the way it obviously is in the press and with the fans. It doesn’t weigh on the team as much as you want to see Hank back because he’s the guy for us. He’s like anybody else. There are going to be some bumps. This is only the second time in the 10 years I’ve been here that I’ve had to answer questions about Hank, which is pretty amazing.
“We’ve all sat out games and know how that feels. We can identify with that. But he’s a leader, he’s one of the guys we need to be successful in order for us to win. That’s the way it is.”
Lundqvist said his teammates have not interacted with him any differently this past week. But, he told The Post, there’s been one change.
“I’ve been different. I’ve been more quiet,” he said. “You think a little bit more, about your game, about the big picture, maybe about everything. You tend to analyze more.
“I think a lot. I always do, but when you don’t play, you have more time to think about different things, I guess. Now, it’s time to play. I know what I have to do. There really isn’t anything else or new for me to say.”