Lundqvist Reaches Another Milestone in 4-2 Win Over Panthers

The plan was for Henrik Lundqvist to get a night off on Saturday. But when the plan changed, all the Rangers' goaltender did was go in and make some history.
Lundqvist stopped 39 shots - including the final 31 pucks to reach him - leading the Rangers to a 4-2 victory over the Florida Panthers at Madison Square Garden. The victory was Lundqvist's seventh of the season and No. 438 of his career, moving him past Jacques Plante into seventh place all alone on the NHL's all-time wins list.

Chris Kreider led the way offensively, with a pair of first-period assists and a third-period power-play strike that gave the Rangers the comfort of a two-goal lead down the stretch. Vlad Namestnikov broke a 2-2 tie in the second, Brendan Smith scored in his return to the lineup, and Filip Chytil scored for the third straight game while fellow rookie Lias Andersson picked up his first point of the season.
But in a matchup of future Hall of Famers in the nets, it was Lundqvist, now seventh all-time in wins, who outdueled Roberto Luongo, who sits fourth all-time at 475. Twenty-five of Lundqvist's 438 wins have come against the Panthers, in 38 career appearances.

"It's a proud feeling," Lundqvist said. "When you enter the top ten, I think it's the first time you really start to look at that list. There are some really good goalies, goalies that played a huge part in the history of the game. It means a lot.
"At the same time, it's a stat where it's really the team. It's more that as a goalie you've been part of a lot of good teams that helped you to be in this position. As a goalie, yeah, you do your part, but it's definitely a team stat. It's fun to know that you've been a part of a lot of good teams."
This Rangers team had a couple tweaks in their lineup, with right winger Mats Zuccarello, who played 17:22 on Thursday in Brooklyn, missing his fourth game out of the last five because of a groin strain. Taking the open spot at right wing was Ryan Strome, who was acquired in a trade with Edmonton on Friday afternoon and was determined to make it to New York in time to play. Strome said he had boarded the Oilers' team plane to Calgary when news came that he'd been traded. "Packed my stuff and turned around and took the red eye here," Strome said.
One game in, Strome was impressed with his new teammates. "This team works hard," he said. "I feel like I was shocked by their work ethic, their compete level. Every shift is a chance to wear the other team down, and that's what we did.
"It's good to be a part of. It's a lot of fun and a good energetic group. And it's good to get two points. It's fun to be a part of a team that's winning hockey games."
In fact, Thursday's loss was the Rangers' first regulation defeat in November, and their bounceback began nicely, when Kevin Hayes won a footrace to chop a puck toward Chytil, who beat Luongo from a sharp angle. But three first-period penalties helped slow the Rangers' momentum, and the 10:11 mark they trailed 2-1, on bullet one-timers from Mike Hoffman (who extended his team-record points streak to 15 games) and Aaron Ekblad (on a power play).

Smith provided an answer 1:38 after Ekblad's goal, leaping into the play after the Rangers' forecheck forced a turnover, skating onto Andersson's pass and wiring a short-side wrister from the low circle.
"I think after that we settled down and started playing our game," said Smith, who had been scratched the previous three games. "It was a little sporadic there early, so it was a good thing to get that one. We went from there."
"I felt like we played with more control, second and third (periods)," Lundqvist said. "The first was more back and forth. I'm not a big fan of that."
Namestnikov put the Rangers in front to stay on a play set up by Zibanejad, who went forward with a faceoff and whipped a behind-the-back pass to Namestnikov at the crease. The puck popped off Luongo and into the air, off the post, then off the goaltender again and in.

"It's a greasy goal, it's a dirty goal and we've got to score those," Quinn said. "And then to capitalize on that power play was huge."
That was in reference to Kreider, who steamed past Ekblad on the left wing and beat Luongo stick side at 7:56 of the third, with assists going to Neal Pionk and Lundqvist - making it 11 straight seasons with at least one assist for the goaltender.
For Kreider, it was his 11th goal in the season's 20th game. "He's been on an every-other-game pace for goals," Quinn said. "That's a pretty good pace."

The Rangers are on a pretty good pace themselves, taking 15 of the last 18 points available to them. Their homestand continues Monday against Dallas before wrapping up with a visit from the Islanders on Wednesday.
"I just feel like we continue to grow," Quinn said. "We're playing better hockey at key times, understanding situations. Tonight was important because you're going to lose games, but the key is, don't let it snowball on you. You don't want one loss to turn into four, and that can happen in a hurry in our league. So tonight was a challenge, really. I liked our game. I liked our game."
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