Now would be the time for The King to regain his throne.
This has been Henrik Lundqvist’s worst season — a career-high goals-against average and career-low save percentage — since joining the Rangers in 2005, but the chance for redemption starts next week when the Rangers start what they hope is another deep playoff run.
“There’s probably been a few more lows,” MSG Network analyst Joe Micheletti said of Lundqvist’s season that included some calling for backup Antti Raanta to replace him as starter.
“I just don’t believe that Henrik isn’t going to be ready to go. This is as driven an athlete as I’ve ever been around. He works extremely hard along with [goaltending coach] Benoit Allaire to get to where he is. After his last performances, I think he’s very close to being back at the top of his game.”
Raanta’s stellar play helped the Rangers remain in solid playoff position all season, but there is no doubt Lundqvist will be in net when they open the postseason Wednesday or Thursday in Montreal. And Lundqvist will have a more sound defensive unit in front of him than the one that was a problem all last season, including the playoffs when the Rangers were dismissed in five games by the Penguins.
This season there is a healthier Ryan McDonagh (until recently), an improved Marc Staal, a more experienced Brady Skjei and deadline-acquisition Brendan Smith eating up the minutes that Dan Boyle occupied last season.
“Their records are close, but this is a much better team than what they had last year,” said Micheletti, who will be a part of MSG’s first-round coverage that will include one-hour pre- and postgame shows.
“They never ever got to the point last season where they could win a game 2-1 because they never played well enough in their own zone. This year that hasn’t been the case, though they have had some issues this last month or so. … There’s no reason to think they can’t be strong defensively.”
The Canadiens started the season 9-0-1, but after leveling off, they fired coach Michel Therrien and replaced him with Claude Julien on Valentine’s Day. Since then, the Canadiens have regained their form as one of the top teams in hockey, going 15-6-1 to win the Atlantic Division and set up a rematch of the 2014 Eastern Conference finals.
Behind that turnaround has been the renewed dominance of goalie Carey Price.
“The biggest challenge is Carey Price,” Micheletti said. “He went through a two-month period when people were like, ‘What’s wrong with him?’ and now he’s one of the hottest goalies in the league. … Montreal has been reignited since the coaching change.
“The attitude of the team, the penalty killing has improved, Price has been phenomenal. They have a lot of confidence right now, and know they can win. You can look at both of these rosters. The Rangers are much stronger in the middle, where Montreal’s advantage is on the wings.”