Of all the records and numbers Henrik Lundqvist has put up that inspire confidence in the Rangers’ goalie during the most trying times, there is one that stands out in contrast.
That would be his postseason overtime record, which went to 10-18 with a 5-4 overtime loss in Game 5 of his team’s second-round series against the Senators on Saturday afternoon in Ottawa. Of course wins and losses get unfairly pinned on goaltenders, but the two overtime losses in this best-of-seven now have the Rangers down 3-2 and on the brink of elimination with a must-win Game 6 on Tuesday night at the Garden.
“I’m not really sure how much pressure he puts on himself,” coach Alain Vigneault said on a conference call Sunday when asked about that record. “I do know Henrik wants to excel anywhere he plays.”
For the most part, that is exactly what Lundqvist has done. Since the start of the 2012 postseason, the Rangers are 15-5 when facing elimination while Lundqvist has posted a 1.74 goals-against average and .945 save percentage with two shutouts in those games. That includes the 6-2 record in Game 7s, sullied by the most recent performance, the difficult loss to the Lightning in the 2015 Eastern Conference finals.
But it’s the overtimes that don’t always work out well, the Rangers having split the two they had in the first round against the Canadiens and lost both thus far against the Senators.
“Right now, there’s nothing that he can do about it or our team can do about it,” Vigneault said. “His mind and the rest of our players’ minds has to be on getting ready and performing well Tuesday at home.”
The Rangers busted out of their home malaise, starting with Game 4 of the first round, the beginning of a four-game winning streak at the Garden. That was preceded by a six-game home playoff losing streak, punctuated with an awful Game 3 loss to the Canadiens. It also came on the heels of an 0-5-3 run at home near the end of the regular season, entering the postseason with the worst home record of any team in the playoffs.
see also
Its on Alain Vigneault to shake Rangers out of Garden misery
Alain Vigneault is entitled to a large measure of credit…
Vigneault said he thinks any of those bad thoughts about playing on Broadway are behind them.
“We went through a little segment here where we had a tougher time as far as results at home,” Vigneault said. “But in a lot of those games, I felt we were playing good hockey. In the playoffs, we had that one game coming back from Montreal when we didn’t respond well.
“We’ve always been a real good home team in front of our fans. We’ve got an opportunity here to even up this series. Our mindset has to be on the process and playing smart, playing hard and competing. That’s what we’re going to try to do here in front of our great fans.”
The Rangers power play went 0-for-3 in Game 5 and now is 2-for-20 in the series. They had two goals in Game 3 that came seconds after their power play had ended.
The man-advantage now is 3-for-35 (8.6 percent) in the playoffs, better only than the Blues (6.9 percent) among any of the 16 teams that qualified.