Rangers painful loss not fit for "King"

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PHILADELPHIA -- For a team that had lost most of the races and one-on-one battles, that had been hanging onto a cliff by practically the last ounce of strength in Henrik Lundqvist's grip, the Rangers yesterday still, at the end of 65 minutes, had the Flyers where they wanted them.
"[Coach] John [Tortorella] even said [before the overtime], 'Don't totally sit back, but don't let it end here, because we have a big advantage in goal in the shootout,' " said Erik Christensen.
The Rangers, 7-1-1 just to get to one game for eighth place, had kept borrowing time, and Lundqvist was stealing them another two weeks. Apprehension filled the house down to the Flyers' bench.
"It's a little bit ironic, how this happens, Lundqvist being probably the best shootout goalie in the league, along with Ryan Miller," Danny Briere would say later. "The Rangers have been pretty successful and the Flyers haven't in shootouts."
Claude Giroux, the Flyers' third shooter, begged Briere, the first, to "please score and take the pressure off me." The Flyers, with their third-string goalie, Brian Boucher, weren't going to beat Lundqvist in a shootout on his worst day, and certainly not on his best, which yesterday just might have been in five Rangers seasons.
Tortorella called Lundqvist "terrific" and still was damning his goalie with faint praise. Fighting screens, rebounds and the desperate pounding of a team talented enough to have clinched a playoff berth a week ago, Lundqvist stopped Simon Gagne seven times, Jeff Carter six, Braydon Coburn five and Matt Carle four.
Carle got a fifth one by Lundqvist 6:54 into the third period, on a rebound after Artem Anisimov, who might have been the Rangers' best player yesterday, got a little too ambitious on the penalty kill and had the puck lifted at center by Carter.
Nevertheless, seconds later Lundqvist was coming across to stop Gagne, two-on-one with Daniel Carcillo, and if the goalie got lucky when the puck came back off the crossbar, he was earning his every break.
The best save of the night was soon to follow, on James van Riemsdyk's one-timer through a screen off a broken-down Coburn point drive. Lundqvist stopped Giroux on the rebound, too, to get the Rangers to the overtime, the object of which strictly was to get them to the shootout.
"I wasn't thinking about that, just concentrating on the job," Lundqvist said. "I was pretty tired."
So much shooting had the Flyers done -- 78 counting misses and blocks -- their arms by then could have been hanging limply by their sides. But Briere faked backhand, went forehand and lifted the puck halfway up the net.
Christensen went right-to-left and Boucher got it with his blocker. After Mike Richards fired wide, Boucher put his paddle down, but couldn't keep P.A. Parenteau's shot from riding up and over to tie it.
It was down to Giroux, who closed inside the hash marks and snapped the puck between Lundqvist's legs. Tortorella passed up his best player, Marian Gaborik, for one of his worst, Olli Jokinen, who had a better record in shootouts, and lost when Boucher stopped a backhander.
Game. Season.
"It's over, and it [stinks]," said Lundqvist, terse, exhausted, devastated and ultimately human.
Said Brandon Dubinsky, "He's been our backbone all season. It hurts that we didn't get the job done for him. He deserved that."
A season's worth of the Rangers' dirty laundry inevitably came out in the Game 82 wash. And still who in the end would have thought Briere and Giroux would beat Henrik Lundqvist clean?


Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/rangers/all_over_9ZmKokVXGizH5i1tYehObO#ixzz0kvFNZqjR

Lundqvist spectacular save vs. Giroux 4/11/10

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Rangers come up on short end of OT thriller at Philly

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There will not be a fifth consecutive playoff berth for the Rangers this year.

Despite a great stretch run in which the team amassed a 7-1-2 record, and despite a simply fantastic 46-save performance from goaltender Henrik Lundqvist on Sunday afternoon, the Rangers were defeated by the Philadelphia Flyers 2-1 in a game decided by the shootout at the Wachovia Center.

The most painful ending imaginable short-circuited the Rangers’ magical late season playoff push one point shy of a post-season berth.

“Both teams go through it so certainly we are not going to whine with how the situation is,” Rangers head coach John Tortorella said of having his team’s season end in a shootout. “In all honesty when it got down to the shootout I thought we had the advantage, with no disrespect to their shooters, but Henrik was terrific today. I thought we had a pretty good chance there, but it didn’t work out.”

Claude Giroux’s score in the third round of the shootout proved to be the game-winner when Flyers’ goalie Brian Boucher stuffed Olli Jokinen’s attempt that followed. Earlier Danny Briere had scored for Philly in the first round of the shootout and PA Parenteau had countered in Round Two for the Rangers.

“Obviously we were confident heading into the shootout,” said defenseman Marc Staal. “I mean shootouts are a toss-up, a shot an inch or two one way or the other changes everything. It’s tough for (Lundqvist) playing the way he did for us down the stretch. I feel badly for him.”

With the Flyers buzzing all game long, the Rangers finally let their precarious hold of a 1-0 lead slip away early in the third period. As Parenteau watched from the penalty box, Philly’s Matt Carle scored a power play goal off a scramble in front to tie the game at the 6:54 mark of the final period.

One minute later Lundqvist made an unbelievable save, lunging in a full-stretch to his right to rob a Simon Gagne one-timer, to make sure that the Flyers did not make it two goals on two shots after being denied on their first 35.

With eight minutes left to play, Lundqvist came through again for his team, making a pair of amazing right-pad saves in succession on James Van Riemsdyk and Claude Giroux. And overtime was not guaranteed until Lundqvist hugged the post to thwart Daniel Carcillo’s eight-foot snap shot with 14.6 seconds left to play in regulation.

“I’m just so empty and disappointed right now,” Lundqvist said after the game. “We’ve been working really hard the last few weeks to try to get here. I don’t know what to say. It’s empty and tough.”

Lundqvist made two more saves in the five-minute overtime, though it was the Rangers with the best opportunity to win the game during the extra session. Marian Gaborik gained a step on the defense to break in on left wing, but his quick wrist shot was kicked out by the left skate of Boucher with a minute to go.

“To have it come down to a shootout in the last game of the year and then to get knocked off, it’s pretty disappointing,” explained team captain Chris Drury. “I just feel really bad for Henrik because that was one of the best games I’ve ever seen him play, and we didn’t get much in the way of offense for him. Then it comes down to a tough shootout loss.”

The Flyers pulled out all the stops to get their team and raucous crowd extra energized before the start of the game, even dusting off a vintage video circa the 1970’s of Kate Smith singing “God Bless America” instead of Lauren Hart’s usual rendition of “The Star Spangled Banner”.

And though Philly came bursting from the gates, it was the Rangers who scored the clutch first goal early in the first period. Jody Shelley, who put the Rangers up 2-1 on Friday night with his first goal of the season, gave the visitors a 1-0 lead at 3:27 with his second goal in as many games.

With his back to the net Shelley redirected Michal Rozsival’s right-point shot past Boucher as the Rangers’ fourth line delivered another huge shift in the club’s exciting late-season push.

“Our fourth line was our best line the last two games,” Lundqvist said of Shelley, Artem Anisimov, and Brandon Prust. “They played great. But it’s tough to win two games against Philly when your fourth line is your best line.”

However the Rangers could not build any momentum off Shelley’s score, and instead the Flyers took over the first period with a voracious forecheck the key to their play. Fortunately for the Rangers, Lundqvist was simply sensational over the course of the opening 20 minutes, stopping all 18 shots he faced.

Perhaps his most important stop came 90 seconds after the Rangers grabbed their 1-0 advantage. Flyers’ captain Mike Richards stripped Rangers’ defenseman Anders Eriksson of the puck between the circles and broke in on Lundqvist, who made a huge blocker save to preserve the visitors’ lead.

The play was eerily reminiscent of one that took place 40 seconds into Friday’s contest when Richards stole the puck from Marc Staal in the same spot and scored the first goal of the game. This time Lundqvist made the bigger play.

Lundqvist caught a break at the 11-minute mark of the first period when Carle split the Rangers’ defense and fired a rocket off the crossbar. As the puck caromed off iron, it banked off the back of Lundqvist’s skate, but ended up sliding wide of the goal post.

“He was terrific, just terrific,” Tortorella said of Lundqvist, who played in his career-high 73rd game of the season on Sunday. “That’s a pretty good offensive team, and we knew they would come hard at us in the first period. But he was terrific for us.”

The Rangers and Flyers played a more even second period. After being outshot 18-4 in the opening period, the Rangers managed nine shots against Boucher in the middle stanza, though they also surrendered 12.

The fact that the game remained 1-0 in favor of the Rangers heading into the third period was due to Lundqvist, who denied all 30 shots through 40 minutes of play. Whether flashing his glove to snare a wicked Gagne slap shot two minutes into the middle period or sprawling spread-eagled on the ice to keep Jeff Carter and Scott Hartnell at bay halfway through the period, Lundqvist was clearly at the top of his game.

“He was unbelievable,” Gaborik said of Lundqvist. “He kept us in there the whole game. They had so many chances and Hank was just unbelievable against them.”

Emotions also escalated on both sides during the second period. Aaron Voros and Ian Laperriere took part in a center-ice scrap, Shelley drove Carcillo to the bench with a crushing check, and Chris Pronger delivered a bomb on Shelley several minutes later.

“It was a game everybody was excited to play and it was exciting for everyone who watched,” explained Gaborik. “It’s just too bad with the outcome. It’s disappointing to end it like this. It’s tough to describe right now.”

http://rangers.nhl.com/club/recap.htm?id=2009021223&navid=DL

Lundqvist "empty" after devestating season-ending loss in Philly

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Lundqvist looked like he was going to cry, and was brief compared to what he usually does in terms of post-game interviews.
Asked if he felt good going into the shootout, given how he’d played:
“Not really. I was dead tired.”
“I can’t analyze. You have to ask someone else to analyze the game. I can analyze me. I’m just so empty right now. I don’t know what to say.”
“We got close. We did what we could the last few weeks here to get back in the race. I think we worked hard. I think they were better tonight though. I felt we couldn’t hold onto pucks too long. Our fourth line was out best line the last two games and they played great, but it’s going to be tough to win two games against Philly when the fourth line’s the best line.”
“I don’t know what to say. It’s empty and tough.”
“They made good moves, but going into the shootout, I was pretty beat up. It was a tough, intense game. It was pretty tight. I was focused, but they made two pretty good moves. They waited and waited and I tried to be patient. But not much to say. The season’s over and it sucks.”


http://rangers.lohudblogs.com/

Rangers to play for a playoff berth on Sunday

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The Flyers’ best chances to pull even came with five minutes left to play. Henrik Lundqvist was forced to make a series of spectacular saves as Philadelphia skated on the power play. Lundqvist stopped all 10 shots he faced in the wild third period, and finished with 24 saves overall.

As the clock ticked off the final seconds off the penalty kill, The Garden Faithful erupted with chants of “Hen-rik! Hen-rik!”

“They were all over us there for a few minutes, but we held on,” said Lundqvist. “To come out of here with a win was huge.”




http://rangers.nhl.com/club/recap.htm?id=2009021207&navid=DL|NYR|home

Lundqvist Rangers MVP for fourth straight year

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The Rangers’ MVP, voted on by the Professional Hockey Writers Association, was awarded to Henrik Lundqvist. This is the fourth consecutive year that Lundqvist has won the award, which marks the most consecutive years an individual has been named Rangers’ MVP.
Lundqvist currently ranks fifth in the NHL in saves (1,872) and sixth in time on ice (4,078:49). He has recorded four shutouts this season, while ranking ninth in the NHL in goals against average (2.40) and 11th in wins (34). Lundqvist is the only goalie in NHL history to post 30-or-more wins in each of his first five seasons, and the first Rangers goaltender in team history to post five straight 30-win seasons.

Congratulations Henrik, you deserve it.

Let's hear it for New York..Let's go Rangers!!

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In honor of the most important game of the season thus far, I have decided to post the brillant video of the Rangers victory song, (and one of my favorites as well) "Empire State of Mind" by Jay-Z and Alicia Keys.

Rangers fate is in Lundqvist's hands

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Hank got the yank Tuesday night after being beaten three times as clean as his coach finally came yesterday about why he did it.
"[Henrik Lundqvist] gave up three goals in six scoring chances, two of them at bad angles," John Tortorella said. "After the [2-2] first period, I said, 'You know what, he deserves to try to battle through this.' [But] I just didn't think he was sharp.
"We felt at that point of time Alex Auld would give us the best chance."
Just one more loss, and it's "Auld Lang Syne" to the postseason for the Rangers after four consecutive appearances, no time for failure by a world-class goalie whose play all season has been begging for teammates to rise to his level.

One of only three points the Rangers have failed to win during a 6-1-1 surge slipped away when Lundqvist let in a goal from behind the goal line late in the third period in Toronto. The other two points, Tuesday night in Buffalo, were being lost as Tortorella applied the hook.
It was partly, he conceded, to save Lundqvist's body for an elimination game 23 hours later. Tortorella also did it because he didn't have to worry about saving Lundqvist's psyche.
"I know Hank can handle that," said Tortorella. "Look, we're not getting in without Hank."
The Rangers took it to the final weekend with a perfunctory 5-1 win over the conference bottom-feeding Maple Leafs, who, overwhelmed during a three-goal Rangers first period, eventually worked up a sweat only in the offensive end. They didn't have dead-on chances but several potential killers, including their goal by Dion Phaneuf, came through screens.
"A big part of the game was trying to find the puck," Lundqvist said. "And he saw almost everything as clearly as he did the big picture from the bench in Buffalo.
"I could have stopped some of those goals, sure, but I don't think I played bad," he said. "I was surprised, sure, but I just have to deal with it.
"It's part of being a goalie. Sometimes you don't agree with getting pulled, but it really doesn't matter in the end. It's John's decision and I just have to deal with it. It's important to me to let it go.
"I had time during the game to think about that game. When we left the rink I started to think about this game. I was pretty determined."
The Rangers haven't always been as determined as their goalie this season. When they left for their six-game trip, Lundqvist knew he would go down fighting, but last night he admitted to being certain he was going down regardless.
"A couple weeks ago I thought we were out," he said. "So it's fun to be here. We never gave up and we're back in the race."
That race is three horses for two places, but the Rangers don't have to worry about Boston getting only one point in their three remaining games if they win both games this weekend against a Philadelphia team that, playing with a third-string goalie and without leading goal scorer Jeff Carter, also believes it has gotten its act together in the nick of time.
"We know we have to win both, but it's one at a time," said Lundqvist.
And if it gets down to just one, who would you want in your net in that one: Brian Boucher or Henrik Lundqvist?
Of all the questions asked about the Rangers' ability to pull this off, that one is ridiculous.


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Rangers blow away Leafs, eye showdown with Flyers

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Erik Christensen set the tone by scoring the first of his two goals just 21 seconds into the contest, and the Rangers played an extremely inspired game in defeating the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-1 on Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden.

With their victory, the Rangers -- 6-1-1 in their last eight games -- now have 84 points, one behind the Boston Bruins for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. The Blueshirts also trail the seventh-place Philadelphia Flyers by only two points; and the two clubs will close out the regular season with a huge home-and-home set Friday at MSG and Sunday afternoon at the Wachovia Center.

“We wanted to make the Philly games count, and they do now,” said Rangers head coach John Tortorella. “It’s within us now. We don’t have to look at the (score)board anymore. It’s right in front of us. It’s going to be in our building and in their building.”

Henrik Lundqvist, who was pulled from Tuesday’s 5-2 defeat up in Buffalo, rebounded with a solid 26-save performance. Brandon Dubinsky played a strong all-around game and finished with a pair of assists, while Christensen contributed his second two-goal game of the season.

Lundqvist lost his shutout bid with 11:51 left to play when Toronto’s Dion Phaneuf powered a slap shot through a screen and into the cage to make the score 3-1. Just under three minutes later, Olli Jokinen batted the puck off of Toronto goalie Jonas Gustavsson to restore the Rangers’ three-goal lead. And with 7:25 remaining Aaron Voros notched his third goal of the season to put the game away.

“We stayed cool and played smart the whole game,” said Lundqvist. “We have showed that when we play our best, we are a pretty good team. And today we just went after them, didn’t react. We took charge. That’s when we are at our best.”

Less than 24 hours after their disappointing loss to the Sabres, the desperate Rangers exploded for a three-goal first period as they thoroughly dominated the Maple Leafs all over The Garden ice.

The onslaught began just 21 seconds into the game’s first shift when Christensen jammed a Dubinsky centering pass from behind the net underneath Gustavsson. So emotional was Christensen over his first goal in 13 games that he threw himself full force into the glass behind Toronto’s net to celebrate as the crowd erupted.

“This is the start you wish for, especially in the situation in which we are at,” said Vinny Prospal. “I think the team responded and came out of the gate really strong, and that set the tone for the entire game.”

Following Christensen’s game-opening goal the Rangers sent wave after wave of determined forecheckers into the offensive zone, creating numerous turnovers and scoring chances in the process. So relentless were the Rangers that just eight minutes into the contest they already held an 11-1 advantage in shots on goal.

Gustavsson, however, was fantastic between the pipes for the Maple Leafs, turning aside one excellent scoring chance after another for the home team. Finally midway through the period Gustavsson was broken by the Rangers, who scored twice in a 30-second span to triple their advantage.

“It’s great to see how we took control of the game and didn’t wait for anything to happen,” said Lundqvist. “We made sure that we set the tempo. We did a good job.”

Prospal scored at 10:26 and Christensen added his second of the period at 10:56 to boost the Rangers’ lead to 3-0.

Prospal cashed in the rebound of Olli Jokinen’s foiled breakaway attempt. Michal Rozsival hit Jokinen in perfect stride with a gorgeous blueline-to-blueline pass that sent the center in alone on Gustavsson. The Maple Leafs goalie made a terrific pad stop, but Prospal, trailing the play, hammered the rebound into the back of the cage to put the Rangers up 2-0.

The goal was Prospal’s 20th of the season, marking the fifth time in his NHL career that Prospal has reached the 20-goal plateau.

“It’s a great play by Vinny Prospal just following up,” said Tortorella. “You see so many players watch and they don’t get that chance or that opportunity to score. It was a big goal for us.”

On the very next shift, the Rangers struck again. Dubinsky stole the puck at center ice, quickly sent a pass to Marian Gaborik at the blueline, and Gaborik, in turn, sent Christensen in with a perfect saucer pass towards the middle of the ice. Christensen slipped a backhand shot between Gustavsson’s pads for his second goal of the game, and eighth of the season.

Gaborik earned an assist on the goal, his 84th overall point on the season, establishing a new single-season career-best. He had previously recorded 83 points with the Minnesota Wild two seasons ago.

“It’s nice, but the most important thing, for me and everyone else in this room, is to win the next two games,” Gaborik said of reaching 84 points.

The Rangers came within inches of taking a four-goal lead in the first period, but Chris Drury’s left-wing slap shot off a shorthanded rush caught the crossbar behind Gustavsson at 17:25. In all, the Rangers fired 18 shots on goal in their dominating first period.

The second period was scoreless and more evenly played, although the Rangers remained in control throughout. Lundqvist was strong when challenged, which was not all that often. His best save actually came late in the opening period when he robbed Phil Kessel on a breakaway with 20 seconds to play.

At 13:43 of the second Christensen had thoughts of a hat trick dancing through his head when he burst past the Toronto defense and sped one-on-one towards Gustavsson. But before he could unleash a shot, Christensen lost control of the puck and it rolled off his stick before being pushed aside by Gustavsson.

“He could have had three or four goal tonight the way he was playing,” Gaborik said of Christensen.

Along with their offensive outburst, strong play in goal, and overall energetic effort, the Rangers also stood up to the Maple Leafs, one of the more physical clubs in the NHL this season. Jody Shelley engaged in a long heavyweight fight with former Ranger Colton Orr 2:25 into the game, and the Blueshirts followed by initiating physical play the remainder of the game.

When Gaborik was crushed from behind by Toronto defenseman Jeff Finger, Dubinsky immediately jumped to his rescue, earning double minor for roughing while throwing Finger to the ice at 8:14 of the second period.

And Brandon Prust, who was whirling dervish all night long, was a thorn in the collective side of the Maple Leafs, agitating at will, while also standing up to the rugged Phaneuf as the horn sounded to end the second period.

Now the Rangers will need to bring this same level of intensity, and even more, into the final weekend of the regular season. The Rangers hold their destiny in their own hands. Win both games, and they will have a fifth straight postseason berth.

“It’s definitely do-able, but I think it’s important that we don’t look at two games and instead just focus on one game,” said Lundqvist. “We need to put all of our energy and focus into one game. If we win that one, we move on.”

http://rangers.nhl.com/club/recap.htm?id=2009021193&navid=DL|NYR|home

Exclusive Video of Henrik Lundqvist & Aaron Voros Handshake

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