For all the whispers this season and last Henrik Lundqvist manages to shine through most of the fog of criticism.
On Sunday afternoon, Lundqvist made 31 saves to back stop the New York Rangers to a crucial and unexpected 2-1 win over Washington.
Mats Zuccarello scored game-winner in third period Sunday afternoon – file photo by Lewis Bleiman
The win helped the Rangers improve to 38-19-1 and they are 10-3-0 in their 13.
“In this league with the fine line that separates every team, you’ve got to find different ways [to win]. That’s what we did,” Rangers head coach Alain Vigneault said. “That’s a real strong hockey team. They’re not in first place in the League for nothing. They have four lines that come at you and a real strong ‘D’. We beat a real good team.”
The Rangers have also turned their home record around after a spate of poor outings they have now won five straight at the Garden.
Mats Zuccarello broke a 1-1 tie in the third period to send the Rangers to the win.
“We got them on a back-to-back, we are at home, I think we did what we were supposed to do,” New York’s Marc Staal said. “We expected to come in here and give it a good effort and win the game. We were able to grind one out against a really good team.”
The Rangers took a 1-0 lead in the first period on a nifty play from Ryan McDonagh who took his own rebound and on the right side of the Washington and stickhandled to the mid slot before writing the puck in for the lead.
Alex Ovechkin tied the game late in the second period on a power play goals.
WATCH: All Capitals vs. Rangers highlights
“We were feeling it, talking about it in practice [Saturday], big NBC game, afternoon game against an opponent we’ve had a lot of history with,” McDonagh said. “We haven’t seen them a lot this year but we knew it was going to be a real challenge the way they’ve been putting up goals. I think the biggest thing for us that’s great to see is only one (goal) against. Huge for Henrik. Huge that we found a way.”
Philipp Grubauer made 28 saves in the loss.
“[Grubauer] was outstanding in the first, especially,” Washington’s Matt Niskanen said. “We’re shaking off the rust a bit, but the second two periods is a step in the right direction.”
You must be logged in to post a comment.