CHICAGO — Henrik Lundqvist likes to play a lot, and he’s used to it. During those times, he has figured out the best way to stay fresh — winning.
“You have stretches when you play just a few games and you’re exhausted, and I remember a year when I played 20 straight games. I wasn’t tired,” Lundqvist told The Post after the team’s practice Thursday before the Rangers headed to Columbus, where he was set to make his eighth straight start Friday.
“It’s about how you play, how you manage your emotions, too. It can be draining sometimes. Obviously when the team is winning, it helps. Everyone is relaxed, you don’t expend as much energy to analyze stuff. You just play. That’s the recipe — try to win as much as possible.”
The Rangers and Lundqvist had done that for almost two weeks, but they had their six-game winning streak broken with a 6-3 loss to the Blackhawks on Wednesday night at the United Center. To complicate matters, Lundqvist was pulled 6:32 into the third period and replaced by backup Ondrej Pavelec after the team had collapsed defensively. After allowing a soft goal late in the second period, Lundqvist was hit with a barrage of chances from in front and the Blackhawks scored three times in 5:14 to open an insurmountable 4-1 lead.
“I felt really good,” Lundqvist said, “and then I make one mistake in the second and it’s a different game in the third.”
The rather spread-out schedule with very little travel thus far has also enabled Lundqvist to not feel overrun. He said he feels “pretty good,” and “sometimes it’s tough to play when you have more days off.” But it’s also allowed coach Alain Vigneault to feel like he’s not overworking the 35-year-old by continuing to run him out there, having started Pavelec just three times in the first 19 games, the most recent coming Oct. 28 in Montreal.
“With Henrik — like we talk about the other guys — it’s how you play,” Vigneault said. “Right now, with our schedule, it permits me to stay with him.”
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Forward Jimmy Vesey said the game against the Blue Jackets is set to be his final one wearing the full shield, necessary after he had his two front teeth lodged in his lower lip during Saturday’s 4-2 win over the Oilers. The swelling in Vesey’s lip has gone down substantially, and the stitches came out Tuesday.
He could have gotten the caps put on his front teeth during the first dental procedure Sunday. But after two root canals that took over two hours, he opted to wait. Now he just has to pick a day when he wants to get it all done.
Vigneault said the only lineup switch would be Brendan Smith coming in for Steven Kampfer on the back end, meaning forward Paul Carey would be a scratch for the third straight game and the 12th time in the past 15. Both Smith and Carey were scratches for a while, and Smith credited the journeyman forward as helping him to get better.
“Pauly Carey was there helping me through all these times when we’re skating and working out,” Smith said. “We got a lot better, and I think that’s the biggest thing.”