Blue Line Station
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Should “The King” rule in Game One?

By Scott Esposito

SAN JOSE, CA - JANUARY 25: Henrik Lundqvist #30 of the New York Rangers celebrates winning the Ticketmaster NHL Save Streak during the 2019 SAP NHL All-Star Skills at SAP Center on January 25, 2019 in San Jose, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)
SAN JOSE, CA - JANUARY 25: Henrik Lundqvist #30 of the New York Rangers celebrates winning the Ticketmaster NHL Save Streak during the 2019 SAP NHL All-Star Skills at SAP Center on January 25, 2019 in San Jose, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images) /
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The New York Rangers carried three goalies for more than two months before the NHL suspended play last March. If the league resumes with the playoffs, as expected, only one deserves to start Game One for the Blueshirts.

When the puck finally drops on an NHL ice sheet again, it could be in the playoffs capping the 2019-20 season and with it, perhaps, the tenure of New York Rangers’ goaltender Henrik Lundqvist on Broadway.

For the past 15 years, “The King” became a lock for the Hockey Hall of Fame, holder of every major franchise goaltending record, took the Rangers to the Stanley Cup Finals and saved the bacon of invisible teammates many times.

These NHL playoffs could be the last for Lundqvist, if not for his career, certainly as a Ranger barring unforseen circumstances. “The King” deserves one more shot to reign. He should at least start Game One.

Doesn’t matter the opponent, or the venue, or whether the series is best-of-whatever.

Doesn’t matter that, at 38 years old, he’s 14 years the senior of teammates Igor Shesterkin and Alexandar Georgiev. Doesn’t matter that the latter two played better than he did this season, either.

None of that matters because that was the regular season.

The playoffs are different. Every game matters. Excruciating pain from broken bones and torn muscles takes the bench to battling on and winning. Each shift and every save are magnified by a thousand.

Which is why experience matters. And Lundqvist is the only of the three with NHL playoff credentials.

As Blue Line Station recently noted, Shesterkin performed reasonably well in the playoffs for SKA St. Petersburg of the KHL last season after returning from a 27-day layoff, indeed a nice accomplishment for the young Russian.

But, frankly, the KHL isn’t the NHL, where Shesterkin wasn’t sharp in his return after a 14-day layoff due to injury.

You’ll recall the rookie suffered a non-displaced rib fracture in a car accident on Feb. 23 and missed the next six games. He returned on March 7 and allowed five goals on 23 shots to New Jersey. The Devils had just 189 goals this season, fifth fewest in the NHL.

Shesterkin won his first start after the Rangers’ bye week (Jan. 22-30), but the victory came against Detroit, which had the fewest wins and goals (145) in the league. Not exactly a true barometer of how the kid will rebound from this layoff.

This isn’t a knock on the Russian rookie, who played well overall in 12 matches for the Rangers, posting a 10-2 record, 2.52 goals-against average and .932 save percentage, and has a bright future. It’s a reminder that was just 12 NHL games.

Georgiev also played well, recording a 17-14-2 record, 3.04 GAA and .910 SP. Since joining the Blueshirts (and NHL) in 2017-18, he’s appeared in 77 games, starting 71 of them. However, he has no NHL playoff experience.

Lundqvist had a subpar season, going 10-12-3 with 3.16 GAA and .905 SP. However, he’s also appeared in 128 NHL playoff games, starting 115 of them. He’s got nearly as many postseason wins (61) as Shesterkin and Georgiev have NHL starts (83).

This layoff just might be the rest that rejuvenates “The King”.

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