Henrik Lundqvist returned to the Rangers lineup Saturday afternoon in Detroit after a three-game injury absence, and turned in a splendid 40-save performance, but the Red Wings still rallied for a 3-2 overtime victory over New York.
The Rangers did pick up a point in the standings, and now sit three points up on the Islanders–who lost in Boston 3-1 on Saturday–for second place in the Metropolitan Division.
Moments after Lundqvist robbed Dylan Larkin on a clean breakaway during the extra period, Detroit’s Darren Helm scored his second goal of the game, deflecting a Pavel Datsyuk shot past Lundqvist at 3:03 of overtime. The two teams have now traded overtime wins in their own building, as the Rangers beat the Red Wings previously last month 1-0 at Madison Square Garden on a Kevin Klein OT goal.
“We came in to a very tough building against a team that’s very desperate and we got a point,” stated head coach Alain Vigneault. “Hank looked very good in goal, so that was very positive.”
Lundqvist’s stellar play Saturday somewhat overshadowed the return of Rick Nash to the Rangers lineup after a 20-game absence due to a bad bone bruise in his leg. Nash skated hard and seemed to get stronger and more in the flow as the game wore on. He had an excellent scoring chance from in front during a first period power play, set up by Eric Staal, and another off the rush on left wing late in the third period.
Nash and Staal played on the same line at even strength, with Viktor Stalberg on their right wing. No. 61 also played on the power play and penalty kill. Nash logged more than 17 minutes of ice time, recorded two shots on goal and had six attempted shots.
“I thought Nasher showed some spark, made some nice moves,” offered Vigneault. “It was good to see him out there.”
On Friday after practice Lundqvist spoke to some level of concern with how sharp he might be after the eight-day layoff and really only one full team practice under his belt. He allayed those fears in a virtuoso first period in which he stopped all 15 shots he faced and was tested with one prime Detroit scoring chance after another.
Just five minutes into his first game back Lundqvist sparkled in a rapid-fire three-save sequence in which he started at his left post, deft moved to the right, then scrambled back to his left to somehow keep the Red Wings off the scoreboard. Over the rest of the period Lundqvist managed to deny Datsyuk on a deft stuff attempt following a steal behind the Rangers net; turned away Justin Abdelkader and Henrik Zetterberg in one-two fashion; and calmly deny Jonathan Ericsson’s quick one-timer after a gorgeous cross-ice feed from Larkin.
The one bit of luck Lundqvist had in the opening period came when Larkin rang a shot off the post at roughly the six-minute mark.
“It was a pretty intense game to play, but it was a good first game (back),” stated Lundqvist, who will also start in goal Sunday when the Rangers host the Pittsburgh Penguins at 12:30 at The Garden. “It was challenging, but it was a busy first period so I got a lot action and was building my game as it moved on.”
With Lundqvist keeping the Rangers in the game, his teammates rewarded him with less than a minute to play in the opening period. Stepan made a smart, aggressive play to steal the puck in the Red Wings end of the ice as Detroit was looking to break out. Stepan dished to Chris Kreider in the low slot, and after Detroit goaltender Petr Mrazak snuffed two shots, the puck found Stepan alone on right wing and the Rangers alternate captain buried his 16th goal with 48.5 seconds left on the clock.
The goal extended Stepan’s point streak to four straight games. He has registered five points (2-3-5) in his last four games. Mats Zuccarello was credited with a secondary assist on the goal and now has reached 30 assists for the third consecutive season, the first Ranger to do so since Jaromir Jagr from 2005-06-2007-08.
After being largely outplayed in the first period, and outshot 15-7 with three of those seven shots coming on the Stepan scoring sequence, the Rangers played the Red Wings on much more even terms in a scoreless period number two. New York held a 10-9 shots advantage and played a much stronger period defensively.
Lundqvist was still tested, just not nearly as often as in the opening twenty, however. His glove save on Danny DeKeyser’s bomb at 11:46 was a real second period highlight.
In the opening minutes of the third period Mrazek made his most important save, robbing Tanner Glass’ one-timer from ten feet out after a slick feed from Kevin Hayes. A couple of minutes later Helm finally broke through against Lundqvist, beating him over the shoulder at 4:28, tying the score, 1-1.
The Rangers regained the lead on Kreider’s power play goal with 4:27 left on the clock. After Abdelkader interfered with Lundqvist during a scramble at 14:18, Kreider deflected a Keith Yandle slap shot past Mrazek for his 15th goal of the season. Zuccarello picked up his second assist of the afternoon, and team-leading 53rd point on the season, on the goal, as well.
However the Red Wings netted the equalizer–also on a power play–with 31.8 seconds remaining in regulation as Eric Staal watched from the penalty box. Former Blueshirt Brad Richards punched in a rebound as Detroit skated 6-on-4 with Mrazek pulled for an extra attacker.
That tying goal came seconds after Ryan McDonagh hit the post of an empty net at the other end of the ice, with Stalberg barely missing the empty net right afterwards.
“It would have been a good feeling to ice this one with an empty netter myself, but we have to find a way to continue to battle hard there and get it done,” said McDonagh. “That has to be our focus, to find a way to get it done.”
New York was outshot 14-4 in the third period and 5-4 in a wide-open three-on-three overtime. Overall the Rangers were outshot 43-25 with Lundqvist the clear reason why the Rangers came as close to winning as they did.
“It had only been a week, but for some reason it feels like it’s been longer,” explained Lundqvist. “I felt like I played my game, but it’s just tough to come up short like this when we’re that close.”
Vigneault stated before the game that he is hopeful center Derick Brassard, who did not play Saturday because of the flu, will be back in the lineup for Sunday’s showdown against the Penguins.
(Reprinted with permission of New York Rangers)
