This one came through in sepia tone, an old-time movie with the familiar star making for quite the evening on Broadway.
At the end, it was Henrik Lundqvist winning this terrific goaltending duel, his Rangers able to just outdo Jimmy Howard and the Red Wings for a 2-1 overtime victory Friday night at the Garden. And it was Lundqvist smiling and laughing, lighting up as Mats Zuccarello won it 37 seconds into the 3-on-3 extra period, finishing while alone in front after a great individual play from Brady Skjei.
“To me, there’s only one thing that makes me laugh a lot, and that’s winning,” said Lundqvist, who finished with 40 saves, stopping all 17 shots he faced in the first period as his teammates were fighting through their Thanksgiving tryptophan hangovers. “It’s hard for me to enjoy anything away from the rink, at the rink, when we’re not winning. Right now, I think over the last 11 games we’re 9-2, and it’s easy for me to relax. It’s important to me that we do well, that we win.
“That’s the solution if you want to see me laugh — that’s what we have to do.”
It has been 11 straight starts for Lundqvist, as his game has been utterly revitalized and he has carried the Rangers (12-9-2), winners of seven in a row at home, with him. The 35-year-old said he feels “rested” despite playing a lot of games over a spread-out schedule, and he’s “just excited to get an opportunity to play a lot of hockey right now.”
Surely, the Rangers are excited to have him, because for as much as they have cleaned it up in front of him, when there is a breakdown, he has been there to make the big save — just like old times.
“Think the first period we played really bad,” Zuccarello said. “We weren’t into the game at all. Too much turkey yesterday for some of the guys.”
But that went away as the Rangers took over in the second period, getting 16 shots on Howard, who had just been pulled Wednesday night when he gave up four goals on 19 shots to the Oilers in Detroit. But he always seems to rise to the occasion when facing Lundqvist, evident when he made three great saves in a matter of four minutes in the second period. The first was a diving left-pad stop on what seemed like a slam-dunk goal for Rick Nash with just over 10 minutes remaining, followed by one on Kevin Shattenkirk and one on J.T. Miller.
The Rangers knew they were going to need to do more if they wanted to beat Howard, as the two teams entered the third period knotted in a terrific scoreless tie. But they also knew they had Lundqvist in their own net.
“Hanky is our best player, our leader on the ice,” Zuccarello said. “We expect him to be like that every game. If we can help him out, we know how good he can be.”
But first, things turned for the Red Wings, who took a 1-0 lead on a power-play goal from Tomas Tatar 4:05 into the third as Lundqvist had a rare occasion when his defensemen couldn’t clear a screen, this one from Justin Abdelkader. But the Rangers pushed right back, and Chris Krieder was able to tie it at 10:17 when he backhanded a bouncing puck through Howard’s legs, the Rangers sending the Garden into an honest frenzy for the first time this season.
Then into the extra frame, the Rangers went that extra step to reward their goaltender. Skjei broke it out of the defensive zone himself, skating up the right wing, spinning at the right post and finding Zuccarello alone in front. He was able to beat Howard, and the script played itself out as it had so many times before.
“A lot of people complain about low-scoring games,” coach Alain Vigneault said, “but for me, anyway, this was as entertaining as it could get.”