One of his teammates was former Rangers forward Adam Graves, whose No. 9 shared space in the Madison Square Garden rafters with Lundqvist's No. 30.
"Obviously, I've known him a long time but I've gotten to know him even better in retirement, and I couldn't be happier for him, [his wife] Therese and his girls," Graves said. "An opportunity to celebrate not only the great goaltender he was, but what he means to New York and the community in everything he does. He just exudes class. He's a fellow Ranger and part of the bigger family and I couldn't be prouder. He's a special guy. And quite frankly, not letting a goal in, and I was on the ice with him, he played a pretty good game."
Shutout aside, Lundqvist was thrilled he felt good enough to play Sunday. He said he's been working out and has gains and setbacks, but he's been on a good path and he knew that he could handle an alumni game.
"Obviously, the pace wasn't that high, which was perfect," Lundqvist said. "My heartrate was low. My doctor will be happy about that. But, no, overall, it was so much fun. The whole week has been awesome so far. It's just incredible to be here but also, you reflect even more when you see the names. You see the names at the Hall but also today on the ice. To finish off in a shootout against Forsberg, I grew up watching him, that's kind of cool on a Hall of Fame Weekend. I'm just enjoying it."
Prior to suiting up, Lundqvist, Ouellette, Barrasso, Vernon, Turgeon, Hitchcock and Lacroix's widow, Coco, received their Hall of Fame blazers in a special pregame ceremony.
"It's awesome," Lundqvist said. "I'm going to wear it every Sunday, family dinner."
A prearranged video of their career highlights played in the arena with a narration of their accomplishments before each inductee was introduced. Gino Reda, a commentator from TSN, introduced and interviewed all of them.
Gino spoke to Turgeon about being the captain of the Montreal Canadiens when the Montreal Forum closed. Ouellette talked about her role in the growth of women's hockey. Hitchcock spoke about representing Canada as a coach. Lacroix expressed her pride in being here. Barrasso talked about his comeback in 2001 after taking time away from the game for family reasons, Vernon about winning two Stanley Cups eight years apart and Lundqvist about the consistency he displayed throughout his career.
"I've been done playing for a long time and it's not something I think about very often, my playing career," Barrasso said. "To have those memories come back, it's not something that happens very often, but maybe it should."
There were some comical moments in the Legends Classic, like when Gary Roberts inadvertently skated right into Steve Thomas.
"Yeah, the guy can't stay out of my way," Thomas said, laughing. "That's the way he played too, when he was playing in the league."
Thomas fell down. Roberts did not.
"Yeah, that's not good for me," Thomas said.
Turgeon and Ouellette joined Lundqvist among the inductees on the ice. Barrasso and Vernon did not dress. Barrasso, in fact, said he hasn't put on his goalie equipment since he retired in 2003.
"There's not enough money in the world to make me get hit by pucks again," he said. "It's not something I ever even thought about."
Lundqvist hadn't either until the Legends Classic came up and he decided, with doctor's approval, to give it a go. He might not be done with some post-playing career hockey after all.
"If you asked me four weeks ago, I would say no, but now being on the ice a couple times, I really enjoy it," Lundqvist said. "I'm not going to do it a ton, but I might do a couple games here and there. It's so fun to compete. It's not a no anymore, but we'll see."
