The shootout victory has become routine for the Rangers. Whether they hang on to stay even with opponents or tie the score late, the Rangers enter the shootout for the win (and second standings point) feeling good about their chances. They have Henrik Lundqvist on their side.
The scene played out again Thursday night at Madison Square Garden, when the Rangers beat Anaheim, 2-1, getting one more stop in the shootout from Lundqvist than Jonas Hiller could manage for the Ducks. As he often does, Erik Christensen started the shootout with a goal; he has scored on 24 of the 46 chances in his career. Lundqvist stopped Corey Perry, but Teemu Selanne beat him in the second frame. After Marian Gaborik scored, Lundqvist stayed with Bobby Ryan from post to post. Ryan’s wrist shot missed, and the Rangers had their second win in a row.
“We found a way to win a shootout,” Coach John Tortorella said after the game. “We’ll take the two points.”
The quote has become a common refrain for Tortorella and the Rangers. The shootout victory was Lundqvist’s 38th, the most by a goaltender in the seven-season history of the tie-breaking skills competition.
Like most hockey purists and fellow coaches, Tortorella does not hide his queasiness about deciding games with a breakaway contest. But he is a coach charged with winning games in the high-pressure atmosphere of New York and the N.H.L. If it appears at times like the Rangers are playing for the shootout, so be it.
This wasn’t the case Thursday. The Rangers dominated a thrilling five-minute overtime of four-on-four play, but they missed the net on a few scoring chances and Hiller made a pair of sparkling saves. But in the Rangers’ locker room after the game, Christensen made no secret about his team doing whatever is necessary to get games to shootouts.
“Torts tells us all the time, ‘There’s nothing wrong with going to the shootout,’” Christensen said. “It’s not like we make a point of playing it safe in overtime; you saw tonight it’s not our style. But there’s nothing wrong with being in the shootout when you have one of the best goalies in the league. Hank’s our M.V.P. He’s good for at least 10 or 11 wins a season for us.”
Christensen’s heart is in the right place, but he may be guilty of underestimating Lundqvist’s impact on the standings. Just 11 games into the season, Lundqvist has been their best player in three of the Rangers’ five wins.
Lundqvist, who is now 38-26 in the shootout, was asked how he feels when he loses one, as he did Saturday at the Garden against Ottawa. “I get really frustrated,” he said. “I take it personal because I’m a big part of it.” He usually looks forward to the challenge of stopping stars like Perry, Selanne and Ryan with most of the fans standing and roaring, but “only when I’m feeling good and confident.” Since the Rangers held Anaheim to just 12 shots on goal over the opening two periods, the goaltender said he never felt comfortable. But he was responsible for sending the game into overtime by making saves on all of the Ducks’ 15 shots in the third, and he handled two of their three snipers in the shootout.
Unlike many of his peers in net, Lundqvist does not keep a notebook on opposing shooters. He pointed to his triumph over the Ducks as his reasoning. “I faced them in the shootout just a few weeks ago in Stockholm” – a loss – “and all of their guys showed me a different move tonight.”
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