New York Rangers: Will Henrik Lundqvist reach 450 wins this season?

The NHL’s milestone tracker shows New York Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist is one win away from 450 career wins. Will he reach that milestone this season?

It’s another lost reason for the New York Rangers with nothing to show for it. For the second consecutive season, there will be no playoff hockey at Madison Square Garden. That means for the 25th consecutive season, there will be no Stanley Cup hoisted at the world’s most famous arena.

However, the Rangers would still like to finish their season on a high note. At this point, the highest note they can finish on at this point is a personal milestone for their franchise goaltender. Henrik Lundqvist is only one win away from his 450th career win. They may not be competing for the Stanley Cup, but if Lundqvist can reach that plateau before this season draws to a close, at least their season will end with his own feel-good story.

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With two games left, he has two more chances (assuming he starts both games) to get that 450th win, but that’s not saying he hasn’t had more than a fair share of opportunities beforehand. Lundqvist has already had six attempts to reach the milestone, but his team lost in each effort.

His latest, and best chance, to reach 450 came on Wednesday night when the Rangers hosted the league-worst Ottawa Senators at MSG. Ottawa prevented any celebration, skating off with a 4-1 road win in the city that never sleeps. An understandable disappointed Lundqvist criticized both his own team and Ottawa’s lack of talent, in a post-game interview with NHL.com:

“It’s disappointing, because it comes down to a couple of plays where if our effort is a little higher, I think there’s no goals (allowed),” Lundqvist said. “No offense to Ottawa, but they aren’t a really strong team. We should have been able to be in this one a little bit better. But they played smart enough after the lead.”

Lundqvist was also in net to try to get to 450 in this week’s earlier game against the New Jersey Devils. Although both fan bases temporarily united for a “we both suck” chant, the brotherhood was temporary as the Devils earned the win, and Lundqvist was once again left stuck at 449.

The question now is, will he earn that elusive victory before the season comes to a close? Or will he have to wait until the NHL faces off for the 2019-2020 season? After so many tries, and to games left remaining, it seems more possible than not. That is until you see who the two remaining games are against.

Their next game is a Friday night match up against the Columbus Blue Jackets. The Blue Jackets mortgaged their entire future, for arguably the next half of decade, into this season so anything short of a playoff berth would spell a catastrophic disaster for the team.

Columbus will come out guns a blazing trying to earn and that win and hold on the second wild card spot they’re holding on to for dear life. Their number one goalie, Sergei Bobrovsky, who has been carrying this Columbus team with spectacular numbers of his own, is certain to get the start.

That could have been win 450 for Lundqvist, but on Thursday Rangers head coach Pat Quinn announced that Alexandar Georgiev would start against Columbus instead. If Lundqvist is going to get to 450 this season, the door has pretty much been shut on it happening in front of a home crowd as we move on to the net one.

This brings us to game number 82 when the Rangers face off against the Pittsburgh Penguins in Pittsburgh for their final game of the season. While it may not be on home ice in front of Rangers fans like they would hope, the game against the Penguins presents Lundqvist’s best shot at reaching the milestone before the seasons ends.

The Penguins have clinched a playoff birth. So they might sit a few of their starters. If this is the case, it should be easy for the Rangers to skate to victory. Then again, with injuries to Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang still plaguing the team and leaving them depleted, the Penguins may have to roll with the same roster they’ve had since filling those holes and going 15-6-4 since the middle of February.

Even if it’s in front of a road crowd, clinching his milestone 450th victory on the last game of the season, on the last day possible, would be a great way for Lundqvist and the Rangers to start their off-season. Or will the Rangers roll with the better of the two and prioritize Georgiev’s development over Lundqvist’s personal accolades? we’ll find out soon enough.