Postgame: Lundqvist Only Player to Show Up in Loss to Hawks

I will start by saying that I feel absolutely terrible for goaltender Henrik Lundqvist, who exited the rink slamming his stick against the glass and in the hallway after putting on a spectacular 39 save performance. If there is one game that head coach John Tortorella should destroy the locker room after, it is not the 8-2 loss in Pittsburgh, it is not the 7-4 loss to the Sharks, but it is tonight’s 2-1 defeat to the Chicago Blackhawks. The reason being that the Blueshirts’ netminder stood on his head to keep them in the game and give them a chance to win and what do they do in return? Register one single shot on goal in the third period, play careless defensively, and watch Jonathan Toews dig at a loose puck to beat their sprawled out goalie to tie the game at one.

Right from the opening face-off the Blackhawks dominated the game. I mean completely dominated the game. As proof, the final shot count was 41-18 in the tilt and that speaks for itself. In the midst of the Hawks’ pressure, the Blueshirts were able to force a turnover and turn the play down ice. Gaborik ended up finding an open Christopher Higgins who rifled a wrister over Huet for his fourth of the season. That is the way it would stand after one period, but things went downhill for the Rangers offense from there.

In the second period, the Blueshirts barely applied pressure and relied on Henrik Lundqvist to make all of the big saves. Hank rose to the occasion and did exactly that, making save after save after save. The robbery of Andrew Ladd from right in the slot comes to mind, as that was probably the all-star goaltender’s best save of the game. The final shot count in the second period was 14-10 in favor of the Hawks, not bad, but it gets worse.

The Rangers managed to get one shot on Huet in the third period and allowed seven. One of those was Jonathan Toews' poke-in during a scrum in the crease. This play frustrates me to a great extent because of the lack of physicality by the Ranger players around the net. Matt Gilroy, Wade Redden, and Brian Bole all crowded around a squirming Lundqvist for no reason because they simply watched the puck go in. Not one of the three players listed made any attempt to take the body and get physical. They all were guilty of just watching, and if I were the coach, all three of them are benched after that play. I know it may sound harsh, but to give up on your goaltender when he is playing his heart out is absolutely unacceptable.

Then in overtime, Vinny Prospal was unable to convert on a prime scoring opportunity when Dustin Byfuglien turned it down the ice, out-skated Matt Gilroy, and fought off a poor poke-check attempt by Marian Gaborik, beating Lundqvist to win the game by the score of 2-1. I am sorry, but this is the second time Gabs is guilty of the same thing, and he needs to hook Byfuglien there. Who cares if it is a penalty, the body needs to be taken.

So besides Lundqvist, Chris Drury and Chris Higgins were the only other players that competed in my mind. Avery and Callahan here and there, but Drury and Higgins were the only ones who went out and fought every shift. I think that is what makes the difference in this game. Maybe if we get a 100 percent effort from the entire lineup, not just three players, you will take away from some of the opposition’s time with the puck. Chicago controlled the entire game and had the puck the entire game. Sooner or later they are going to put one in, especially when you have such a highly-skilled offensive club like the Hawks coming at you.

The team was also extremely undisciplined in this game. I mean, I cannot really argue any of the calls against the Blueshirts tonight, they were all legitimate and the Rangers were guilty of all of them. Luckily, Lundqvist and Drury were spectacular on the penalty-kill but they just could not get the job done on the final one—the most important one.

This morning I picked apart the game of the struggling Lundqvist. Well, I can’t find one negative comment about his play tonight. Henrik was amazing, flat out amazing, but his mates gave him close to no help at all, from Gaborik on down. As Torts said in his postgame meeting with the media, “they stunk” or "Henrik was the only one that played". Both are spot on.

The Rangers now come home to host the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday, who have been caught in a bit of a struggle since being defeated by the Bueshirts last weekend. Nonetheless, another tough opponent for a team that showed nothing tonight. One of the worst losses of the entire season on Wednesday in Chicago.

(Images courtesy of AP Photo)