New York Rangers should stick with Henrik Lundqvist in Game 2
The New York Rangers need to make some changes before Game 2 against the Carolina Hurricanes, but their goalie isn’t one of them.
Igor Shesterkin was expected to make his Stanley Cup Playoffs debut for the New York Rangers in Game 1 against the Carolina Hurricanes. However, he was deemed “unfit to play”, so at the last minute, the Rangers decided to give the veteran Henrik Lundqvist a start in goal. There are many reasons why the Rangers lost Game 1 to the Hurricanes, but Lundqvist wasn’t one of them.
Though the Rangers need to make quite a few changes in Game 2 to beat the Hurricanes, changing their goalie. Lundqvist was outstanding in net for the blue shirts, as the 3-2 score doesn’t reflect how badly his team played in front of him. He faced 37 shots on goal and stopped all but three of them.
More from Puck Prose
- Detroit Red Wings 2023 Rookie Camp Has Plenty of Ups and Downs
- This Columbus Blue Jackets rookie doesn’t want to be forgotten
- 2 trades the Boston Bruins must make to secure the Stanley Cup
- 3 reasons the Avalanche won’t win the Stanley Cup in 2024
- This is a big year for Alex Turcotte and the Los Angeles Kings
Two of those goals he allowed were virtually impossible to stop. On the first goal, the Rangers allowed a cross-ice pass to Jaccob Slavin, who was in the slot. Jesper Fast should have had him covered, but he got hit hard earlier in the play and it was clear he was quite shaken up.
On the second goal, the Rangers allowed the Hurricanes to get numerous bodies around the crease. Andrei Svechknikov fired a perfect pass to Sebastian Aho, who was able to tip it in. You simply can’t leave your goalie exposed like that.
Even if Aho didn’t get to it, Justin Williams was in a position to get to it as well. Ryan Lindgren and Marc Staal blew their coverages for a second. Ryan Strome wasn’t able to make up for it quickly enough.
The third goal was a bit of a weird one. Martin Necas was credited with the goal, as he was the last Hurricanes skater to touch the puck. His shot was looking to perhaps go a little bit wide, but then it hit Staal’s skate. This caused the puck to change directions, which threw off Lundqvist. These are the little things that matter in the postseason.
It’s easy to look at those three goals, but Lundqvist made quite a few outstanding saves to rob the Hurricanes from scoring even more goals. Without King Henrik in net, Carolina probably would have had at least five goals, if not more. Lundqvist was their best player in Game 1 and I don’t think it was particularly close.
Shesterkin is the future for the Rangers, but right now, the future doesn’t matter. The Rangers are in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. They need to win now. And right now, it’s hard to argue Lundqvist doesn’t give them the best chance to win. There’s a good chance Shesterkin won’t be 100% healthy by Game 2. So why go with him when Lundqvist gave the Rangers a great shot to win in Game 1 even though they didn’t deserve it?
Now, the Rangers shouldn’t be afraid to give Lundqvist a short leash. There’s a minuscule margin of error in a five-game series, especially when you’re already down 1-0 in the series. But Lundqvist showed enough in Game 1 to deserve another chance in Game 2. Of course, if the Rangers don’t play better in front of their goalie, it won’t matter who’s in net.