Thursday night in St. Louis the Rangers were determined not to waste another gem of a performance from goaltender Henrik Lundqvist; and they didn’t, in a 2-1 win over the Blues at Scottrade Center.
Lundqvist earned his 30th victory of the season with a terrific 35-save performance. It marked the tenth time in 11 seasons Lundqvist has won 30 games. The only time he did not reach that total was during the 48-game, lockout-shortened 2013 season.
“We really needed these two points, so it was a good win,” stated Lundqvist. “I just think the pressure is building. (The playoffs) are coming, it’s tight in the standings and we need to make the most of every game here. That’s why I’m trying to prepare like it’s the playoffs right now. I’m trying to do everything to make me on top of my game right now.”
Not so coincidentally, the Rangers snapped a 1-1 tie at 4:18 of the third period, mere seconds after Lundqvist had made his 31st save of the night, this one by denying St. Louis forward Scottie Upshall on a breakaway at the other end of the rink.
The goal was scored by Chris Kreider, and came after he had been demoted to the third line after an ineffective start on Derek Stepan’s line. Kreider scored his 12th goal, from between the circles, on a pretty feed from Oscar Lindberg, a just reward for Lundqvist who had kept New York in the game to that point.
“That’s a big-time save there by Hank, it’s a game-changer,” said Kreider. “If you want to pull games out like that you need saves like that, and he does it on a consistent basis. And that was a hard-work play, a great effort (by Lindberg) carrying a guy on his back up the ice..then making a perfect pass.”
The Rangers spent much of the first two periods defending in their own end of the ice, and not nearly as much time as they would have liked generating offense at the other end. Still they found themselves in a 1-1 tie, due in no small part to Lundqvist, who, yet again, was terrific between the pipes for the visitors.
New York was outshot 12-7 in the first period and then 14-6 in the second when the Blues had a four-minute power play and more consistent pressure in the Rangers end of the ice then they did in the opening twenty minutes. Lundqvist made several big-time saves in that second period, including one as Scottie Upshall stormed the net shorthanded at 3:50 and another with his lightning-quick glove on an absolute rocket off the stick of Blues defenseman Colton Parayko at 16:18.
The second period ended with Lundqvist being drilled in the mask on a hard shot at the buzzer. Moments before there was a scrum behind the Rangers net after the Rangers took offense to several Blues players digging away after the whistle as Lundqvist pinned the puck under his glove.
“They kind of had their way with us there in the second, so it was really important not to allow them to score that second goal,” stated Lundqvist.”
The Rangers received a goal from an unlikely source to open the scoring at the 13:14 mark of the first period. As he was falling to the ice Tanner Glass deflected a Dan Girardi slap shot past Blues goalie Jake Allen for his second goal of the season, and first in 29 games dating to December 12 in Calgary.
Though he didn’t earn an assist on the goal, Marek Hrivik helped force a turnover in the Blues end with a strong forecheck. Hrivik was questionable to play Thursday after missing the morning skate because he was feeling sick, but the Slovakian forwarded ended up taking a regular shift on the club’s fourth line and skated on the penalty kill, as well.
St. Louis tied the game, 1-1, at 14:23 of the second period, scoring on the front end of a double-minor high-sticking penalty called on Girardi when he accidentally struck Vladimir Tarasenko at 13:28. Following a Kevin Klein giveaway, the Blues crashed the crease after a Lundqvist save, with the puck bouncing of Troy Brouwer and over the goal line.
Lundqvist angrily grabbed the puck and threw it out of his net, but quickly settled down to help the Rangers kill the second penalty against Girardi.
His magic act continued into the third period where the Blues stormed out of the gates to record the first five shots of the period, including a pair in rapid succession in which Lundqvist willed himself to keep the puck out of the net. Then he made his clutch save on Upshall’s breakaway attempt right before Kreider scored the go-ahead goal at the other end of the ice.
“Henrik was excellent, tested in a lot of different areas–odd-man rushes, breakaways, deflections,” said team captain Ryan McDonagh, who returned to the Rangers lineup Thursday along with Marc Staal. “We definitely needed a strong game from him and relied on him a little bit too much. He likes that challenge, though, and it’s great to see him playing the way he’s capable like that.”
Next up the Rangers travel to Dallas to square off with the Stars on Saturday afternoon, their final game before Monday’s NHL trade deadline.
Jim Cerny
BlueshirtsUnited.com
(Reprinted With Permission of the New York Rangers)
