Just like that, it seems as if the past month and the first half of the season never happened.
Because at the Garden on Saturday, where Henrik Lundqvist previously had been booed (gasp!) by the Faithless during an unprecedented stretch of plebian goaltending, ringing chants of “Henrik … Henrik” filled the building during the final minutes of the Blueshirts’ 4-2 victory over the Avalanche. With the victory, the King became the 12th netminder in NHL history to reach the 400-win milestone.
“I’m really proud and thankful,” Lundqvist said after the match, in which he faced 32 shots and in which the Rangers rallied to win their fifth straight by scoring three times in the third period against the NHL’s worst team. “It reminded me of first win, when the crowd was chanting my name. I got goosebumps.
“It was a great feeling, a lot of fun. I really wanted to get this in front of the fans. There are times that this life feels surreal.”
Lundqvist recorded his first victory on Oct. 13, 2005, 4-1 at home against the Devils. He is the winningest goaltender in Rangers history and the winningest non-Canadian-born goaltender in NHL history. He has had perhaps the best 12-year run of any Ranger ever.
The respect that flows between the Swede and the organization was manifested in coach Alain Vigneault’s decision to give Lundqvist the shot to achieve the milestone at MSG with his fourth straight start on this homestand and his 11th straight start overall.
“I don’t know if I would have played them all if we didn’t win, but after the first couple of games I told AV and Benny [goaltending coach Benoit Allaire] to keep me in, that I had a confident feeling and wanted to get going.”
The 11 straight starts matches Lundqvist’s longest streak of the past four years. Who knows if Vigneault would have given Lundqvist this type of run if Antti Raanta had not been sidelined for a couple of weeks after sustaining a lower body injury in Montreal on Jan. 14?
Who knows if the coach would have sent the King right back onto the horse in the aftermath of that Jan. 17 debacle against Dallas in which he allowed seven goals in 40 minutes had Raanta been available two nights later in Toronto?
Nobody knows. Or at least, nobody is saying.
“Hypothetical,” Vigneault said. “I’ll let you guess.”
Lundqvist has gone 8-1/.938/2.01 in 10 starts since he was lit up by the Stars — and the fans. He has challenged more aggressively instead of playing so deep in his crease. Indeed, he made one of his best stops in this one midway through the third period at the top of the blue paint against a lurking Mikko Rantanen to preserve a 3-2 lead.
“One-hundred percent we were playing for the two points, but we all wanted to be a part of getting No. 400 at home for Hank,” J.T. Miller said. “He’s our leader. He’s been this team’s leader for 12 years.
“I think we all appreciated the coach’s decision to go with him. I think it was a message that he has a lot of faith in him and in us as a team. It was a pretty awesome feeling to be a part of it.”
If the coach’s decision put Lundqvist in position to get No. 400 at home, another personnel decision early in the third period played a huge role in the Rangers’ sweep of the four-game homestand. With his team trailing 2-1, Vigneault stayed with his fourth line of Pavel Buchnevich, Oscar Lindberg and Jesper Fast through two offensive zone faceoffs before Kevin Klein’s second of the night tied it at 2:50 following a Lindberg win on the draw.
You should know that Fast (36.9) and Lindberg (40.0) have two of the three lowest offensive zone start percentages on the Rangers, with Kevin Hayes at 38.5. But on this night, Vigneault liked what he saw and stuck with it. Less than three minutes later, Rick Nash’s redirection of a Stepan left wing drive gave the Rangers a 3-2 lead at 5:36. Hayes’ empty netter clinched it.
“I’m definitely going to enjoy this tonight and reflect a little bit,” Lundqvist said. “Then I’ll go back to work tomorrow.”