Bonus points to anyone who knows from what movie the above quote comes.
Forget Jaromir Jagr, and forget Brendan Shanahan. Forget Sean Avery, and forget Pascal Dupuis. Forget Michael Nylander and Michal Rozsival. Forget 'em all.
If you didn't know it already, this team, and its chances for making the playoffs, all ride on the shoulders, pads, and back of sophomore goaltender Henrik Lundqvist. He is either going to carry them there, or they will all be heading to Pebble Beach earlier than we had hoped.
I bring this up today not only because of the amount of play Henrik has been getting, but because with Kevin Weekes being placed on Injured Reserve, the young Swede will have to take on an even greater load than anticipated.
To be fair, Mr. Lundqvist had been playing well enough for the Rangers to win some of those games they dropped, but now with an evidently rejuvenated offense, it will be up to him to steal a few down the stretch. Starting tomorrow, the team will play six games in ten days, and "the king" is expected to be in net for every one of them, unless Coach Renney surprises everyone and gives Wolf Pack netminder Steven Valiquette a shot. I wouldn't expect that to happen, however.
Just one more note before I get to the news. With their shootout win over the Maple Leafs last night, the Isles moved into a tie with Toronto for tenth place in the Eastern Conference with 62 points, and as such they both lead the Rangers by 3 points. The Hurricanes won, moving them to seventh place, which means that Montreal holds the eighth and final spot with 64 points, five ahead of the Blueshirts. The Rangers have at least one game at hand on the four teams immediately ahead of them in the standings.
Da News:
NY Daily News: How many games in a row can Henrik Lundqvist play? That question went from hypothetical to potentially critical at noon yesterday. That was when veteran backup Kevin Weekes, during a series of practice-ending conditioning sprints, cried out in pain, having felt a pop in his left calf.
NY Post: Any talk of resting Henrik Lundqvist might be a moot point now. The Rangers goalie has started 11 straight games and 44 this season - and there may be no relief in sight, not with backup Kevin Weekes coming up lame at practice yesterday while doing blue line to blue line sprints.
Please see my explanation of the standings above to clarify a mistake in the Post article, which says the Rangers trail Carolina by six points for the final spot. This would be the case of the Canadiens beat the Devils tonight (or earn an OT loss point), but is not the case right now.
The Journal News: "The way it is now, where we're in a tough spot, you don't feel tired. You don't have time to feel tired," said Lundqvist, who has started 11 straight games since replacing Weekes after the second period of a loss to Ottawa on Jan. 11. "It's easy to feel tired when you feel like you're in the middle of nowhere, and you just play games and you don't think you're going anywhere. But right now, we're really in a tough spot. Every game is important, so it's fun to go out and play big games."
Sam Weinman also reports, in his blog, that Valiquette did not need to clear waivers because of a medical exception due to Weekes' injury, and that the flu bug is hitting the locker room again. Bad time for that with the amount of games that will be played in the next two weeks (8 games in 14 days).
The Rodent's BerthWatch puts the Rangers' postseason chances at 30.8%. His RealStandings has the Blueshirts finishing eleventh, with 86 points (only four out of the eighth spot).
Bruce Bertlet of the Hartford Courant covers the Wolf Pack's recent troubles. Pack fans should take note that tonight's scheduled game against the Lowell Devils has been postponed due to the bad weather in the northeast.
The trade deadline is less than two weeks away now. Another name the rumor mongers can cross off their lists is Shane Doan. He supposedly signed an extension for five years, and $23 million dollars.
HDH
Posted by Jim at February 14, 2007 02:48 PMeMail this entry!
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