This isn’t about a goaltending controversy because there is none and this isn’t about the big picture, because for the Rangers these days the only picture that matters is the one right in front of their faces. In other words, the next game and nothing more than the next game.
And in the aftermath of Thursday’s 5-2 empty-net abetted 5-2 victory at the Garden over the rock-bottom 0-9-1 Coyotes in which Ondrej Pavelec gave the Rangers a rock-solid 28-save performance, the 30-year-old Czech merits the start for the next game Saturday night in Montreal.
Henrik Lundqvist was magnificent in the three playoff games in Montreal last spring, so it’s not that. It is simply that Pavelec was steadier in his second start wearing the Blueshirt than Lundqvist has been in perhaps nine of his 10 this season.
And with the edge on which his 3-6-2 Rangers are skating and the edge on which his coaching career in New York likely rests, Alain Vigneault should go with the goaltender who is at, or close to, the top of his game. On this final weekend of October, that would be Pavelec.
Winner keeps the net.
Indeed, Pavelec should start until his play gives Vigneault a reason to not to go to him. This should not become a timetable thing for the coach to determine when best to go back to Lundqvist. We’re beyond the counting phase after a 2016-17 in which Antti Raanta’s four straight starts in December became screaming headline news.
Vigneault, as per the norm, was noncommittal postgame when asked if he’d care to name his starter for Saturday night’s match against the 2-6-1 Habs. Clearly Lundqvist covets the matchup against Carey Price, whom he outplayed decisively in the six-game first-round triumph last spring and outplayed again in the Oct. 8, 2-0 victory at the Garden.
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This can be looked at two ways. First, the Rangers…
But it is not about what Lundqvist covets. It is about a still-shaky Rangers team looking to create rhythm and a roll going with the less shaky netminder. Again, at this moment, that would be Pavelec.
The backup, whose only previous start had resulted in a 3-2 Garden defeat to the Devils on Oct. 14, admitted to feeling nerves early in the match but said that he had benefitted by the club’s strong start.
“It helped me a lot that we had a great start to the game and were ready to play. They didn’t have much in the first period so that helped me get a little more comfortable,” Pavelec said. “I think it’s about how you practice and how you’re getting ready for the games, but I would lie if I said I wasn’t nervous.
“I didn’t play for a while, but it is what it is. Like I said so many times, my job is to be ready.”
Fair enough, but the Rangers’ strong start could well have been fueled by Pavelec, who made a sharp save on Clayton Keller’s right circle drive 22 seconds into the match. It was more or less a routine save, but Lundqvist hasn’t been making all the routine ones early or late.
You may know it by heart by now, but the Swede had allowed goals three times on a game’s first shot and three times on a game’s third shot.
And the Rangers gained a 1-0 lead at 8:01 on Chris Kreider’s conversion of Mats Zuccarello’s neat backhand pass into the slot off a left-wing rush on a counter after Pavelec’s pad save at the other end on Brendan Perlini.
As far as the Blueshirts are concerned, no save can be considered routine. Neither can any victory. For even while the club was sharper for the most part and received a boost from the Michael Grabner-Boo Nieves-Pavel Buchnevich fourth line that recorded three five-on-five goals, the opponent and the opponent’s neophyte netminder Adin Hill no doubt were a large part of the equation that tipped the balance.
There were still way too many mindless turnovers and still way too many scrambly shifts in the defensive zone, especially over the game’s final 30 minutes. And to put the current state of the team in perspective, two of the Blueshirts’ three victories have come against the squads with the two worst records in the NHL at a combined 2-15-2.
“We need wins,” said Pavelec, a career 153-160-47. “We want to get back on track and keep going.”
On Saturday, they need the goaltender who gives them their best chance to win. There is nothing controversial about that.
Winner keeps the net.