Hartnett: Rangers Left Lundqvist On His Own In Game 1

By Sean Hartnett
» More Columns

Bad bounces, tough luck and questionable calls can spoil a goaltender's night. Rangers netminder Henrik Lundqvist deserved to skate off the Canadian Tire Centre ice on Thursday night with a Game 1 victory in his pocket, but he was cruelly denied.

Ottawa Senators captain Erik Karlsson scored the game-winning goal from the most improbable of angles, banking a shot off Lundqvist's mask and into the net with 4:11 remaining in regulation.

It was unfortunate, but never should have happened for more than the obvious reason.

The goal came right after the Senators should have been called for icing. Karlsson had passed the puck from beyond his own blue line and along the boards, but teammate Jean-Gabriel Pageau did not touch it. The vulcanized rubber banked off the boards, but to the naked eye it may have looked like it was tipped by Pageau. There appeared to be some indecision between the linesmen, who weren't on the same page. One linesman appeared to call icing, then was overruled.

"We felt that on their winning goal, it should have been icing," Rangers head coach Alain Vigneault told reporters after the 2-1 loss. "When we look at the angles we had, it should have been icing. But at the end of the day, you have to play and you have to do more than we did tonight to win."

The Senators earned the victory despite not generating much in 5-on-5 situations, yet they could have put the game away in the first period because of a parade of ill-disciplined penalties taken by the Rangers. Lundqvist displayed his A-game from the start, but his teammates did not. The Blueshirts committed three penalties, including getting called for too many men on the ice, in the opening 20 minutes.

Lundqvist served as a one-man penalty killing unit, making 21 first period saves as the game somehow entered the first intermission scoreless. After Alex Burrows fired a quick shot on an odd-man power play rush, Lundqvist stretched across the crease to rob Mark Stone. Without taking anything away from a solid performance from opposing netminder, Craig Anderson -- No. 30 in white was truly out of this world.

The man fans call "King Henrik" has been an absolute wall these playoffs. How about the stick-less save he made on Karlsson early in the first period? Or the way he used his toe to deny Viktor Stalberg one-on-one after the Sens winger found separation late in the second period? His most impressive stop came against Ryan Dzingel in the third period. Dzingel ripped a heavy slap shot from close range -- maybe eight feet away -- and Lundqvist made a steely glove save.

In all, Lundqvist made 41 saves. You can't ask for more than that, but his teammates, by and large, didn't do their part. I don't think the Rangers created enough traffic to make Ottawa goalie Craig Anderson sweat. Few of his 34 saves were under much duress. The Rangers lacked jump and speed through the neutral zone, and they failed to convert a 6-on-4 advantage to tie the game with 39 seconds left in the third.

After posting a .947 save percentage in six first-round games against the Montreal Canadiens, Lundqvist's save percentage went up a point with his Game 1 performance in Ottawa. The 35-year-old netminder played all the angles right. It was that one bad-angle shot he couldn't do anything about.

And at this stage in the game, that's all it takes.

Follow Sean on Twitter at @HartnettHockey