There were encouraging signs for the Rangers, the biggest one being how Henrik Lundqvist played in nets. But this was not the coveted 60-minute performance from the whole team, and with the playoffs right around the corner, the road remains littered with potholes, none larger than the ugly mark that still remains at home.
The Blueshirts were far from perfect but were carried to the loser’s point on the back of Lundqvist and a terrific amount of resolve, losing a 4-3 game in a shootout to the Penguins on Friday night at the Garden. It was the eighth straight loss at home (0-5-3), but the best game Lundqvist has played in his third start back after an almost three-week layoff due to a hip injury.
“I felt good,” Lundqvist said after he stopped 32 of 35 shots, an inordinate amount of them grade-A opportunities from highly skilled players. “I think the last couple games I’ve felt better and better. But a lot of good looks right in front, it’s not going to be enough to feel pretty good. You need to feel amazing.”
The Rangers (46-27-6) were always going to need Lundqvist to be amazing once the playoffs start, and by gaining only one point, they ensured they can’t move up any further in the standings than their current spot as the first wild-card. That is where they are, all but locked in, setting up a first-round matchup most likely with the Canadiens, who are starting to run away with the Atlantic Division.
But playing the depleted Penguins (47-19-11) — still without Evgeni Malkin or Kris Letang — was a reminder that it only gets tougher once the postseason starts, and good stretches of hockey can be very quickly undercut by small patches of inconsistency. If it weren’t for Chris Kreider’s game-tying goal with 11.6 seconds remaining in regulation, with Lundqvist on the bench for the extra attacker, this one might have felt a lot different.
“Besides seven or eight minutes, I thought we played a pretty darn good game,” said J.T. Miller, who had a lot of jump early on and forced coach Alain Vigneault to move him off the fourth line and back into the top six, joining Mika Zibanejad and Rick Nash, where he set up Nash’s 23rd of the season to cut the Penguins lead to 3-2 at 8:50 of the third.
“I don’t think we feel bad about our game right now,” Miller said, “and the last two games we did a good responding to some not-so-good moments in games.”
It’s true that after scratching for a point in San Jose on Tuesday to secure their seventh straight postseason berth, the Blueshirts fought back from a 2-0 deficit against the Penguins, going down on a goal from Jake Guentzel and another from Sidney Crosby, who scored from beneath the goal line off Lundqvist’s mask at 10:46 of the second.
“That’s why he has 43 goals,” Lundqvist said of the league leader. “It hit my head and I can’t really stop it with my head. I need to get my head behind the post or something.”
Nick Holden scored a seeing-eye power-play goal with 26.2 seconds remaining in the second period to make it 2-1 and carry some hope into the third — but the Rangers opened that frame by getting pinned in their own end, eventually going down 3-1 when Bryan Rust scored at 6:46.
“Part of the game we played really well defensively, and then they turned it up a little bit and were on the outside [looking] in, instead of them on the inside-out,” Lundqvist said. “It made it tough on us.”
But the Rangers still got it to overtime, a thrilling 3-on-3 affair with end-to-end action, and Lundqvist continued to be matched — if not outplayed — by his counterpart, Matt Murray. Then Murray stopped both Zibanejad and Mats Zuccarello in the skills competition, while Lundqvist allowed tallies to both Phil Kessel and Crosby to give Pittsburgh the two points.
“Moving forward, you just have to try to improve, personally and as a group,” Lundqvist said. “There are a couple things we can talk about and do better. It’s moving in the right direction.”