There was a moment during this game where Joe Micheletti kept repeating a phrase that went something like “And Lundqvist makes the save”. He kept doing it over and over and over again. And really, that’s what this season, this team, this blog has become. The Rangers play mediocre hockey, Henrik bails them out, they find a way to win. I’ll say this again. This defies all logic. A team playing this mediocre brand of hockey should not have 30 points in 21 games. They aren’t a 30 point team. But I will tell you this much. If the Rangers aren’t a 30 point team, Henrik Lundqvist is a 42 point player right now, because a team like Detroit in front of him would be undefeated right now. He is keeping his team in games they have no business being in. He is bailing them out time, and time, and time, and time again. How many breakaways, partial breakaways, odd man rushes, peope left all alone in the slot did he stone today? 10? 12? Seriously, deflections, one-timers, slam dunks, it doesn’t seem to matter for Henrik right now, he is stopping just about everything he sees. The shots that beat him seem to come off of mad scramble usually involving rebounds, or a blown assignment that leaves a guy wide open in front of the net for the 20th time in the game with the puck on his stick. Today it was a pick play that ended up with Alfredsson all alone in front of the net where he could pick his spot. Other than that, the Senators had nothing to show for all their hard work.
This is a common theme with the Rangers if you really pay attention. The opposing coach saying how he felt his team played superb hockey, our coach saying we played mediocre hockey, and somehow us pulling out 2 points. Can this last for 82 games? I would be shocked if it did, but enjoy the points while they come, because when this ship turns, if its in the wrong direction, you could be looking at a mirror image of what happened to the Senators last year and a colossal flop. Of course the flip side of that argument is, if it turns in the other direction, where the team in front of Henrik plays great hockey, and he continues to play the way he is playing now, then you’ve got a juggernaut in the making. Right now, one could envision it turning either way.
People on the boards seemed to take exception of Ruutu shooting the puck at Henrik in the shootout after he fanned on his shot and it went wide. But I really didn’t have a problem with it. Why? Because the puck kept forward momentum the entire time, and Henrik didn’t touch the puck till that point. Ruutu didn’t officially miss on the shot till Henrik made the save. Remember, in order for the play to be dead, Henrik needs to make a save, the shooter needs to score, or the puck needs to head in the reverse direction. Since none of those things happened till Henrik made the eventual save on Ruutu, to me, it was a good, and a smart play by Ruutu. You need to play the play all the way till its conclusion. Like in baseball, you want your runners to run hard to first base on each and every play, because you never know what’s going to happen out there. Ruutu may be a schmuck, but he made the right play there.