Leading up to Friday’s ceremony in which the Rangers will retire Henrik Lundqvist’s No. 30 at the Garden, The Post is taking a look at the King’s five best moments during his 15-year career on Broadway. Parsing through Lundqvist’s 887 regular-season games, franchise-record 459 wins and 130 playoff games, here’s a flashback at some of Lundqvist’s biggest and best games as a Ranger:
3. Outdueling Carey Price
Date: April 12, 2017
Score: Rangers 2, Canadiens 0
Details: Much of the talk leading up to the first-round playoff series centered around the heavily favored Canadiens’ Carey Price, largely writing off Lundqvist in the duel between goalies. Lundqvist had more pedestrian regular-season numbers than Price that year, but he brought his vintage game for the opener in Montreal, tallying 31 saves for the shutout. It put the Rangers on strong footing to begin the series, and despite dropping the next two games, they went on to beat Habs in six to pull off the upset — the 11th and final playoff series win of Lundqvist’s career.
Henrik Lundqvist shakes hands with Carey Price after the Rangers defeated the Canadiens during the playoffs in 2017. Charles Wenzelberg/New York PostHank said: “We have to prove ourselves, and I have to prove myself every time out. You know the importance [of a playoff game]. The urgency goes up and the desperation goes up. I’ve had butterflies for two days. I’ve been thinking about this almost every hour for the past week. You’re anxious and nervous and excited at the same time.”
