Henrik Lundqvist is half Pele, half ninja. (And, of course, all dreamy… ladies.)
The king of the New York Rangers’ crease and immediate front-runner for the 2014 Conn Smythe Trophy needed to make just 18 saves in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference final to earn a series-clinching 1-0 shutout and reach his first Stanley Cup Final, which begins Wednesday on the road.
But two of those stops will be remembered long after June.
With less than five minutes remaining in the second period and the score knotted at bagels, Montreal’s Thomas Vanek cut to the net and backhanded a shot short-side that deflected up off a diving Dan Girardi’s stick and would’ve erased so many ill feelings had Lundqvist not dropped his stick and slapped the puck away with his blocker.
Best save of the playoffs, folks:
“For me, it was more about just being focused on the few shots they had and in the second period,” Lundqvist told reporters, downplaying his own acrobatics on a night he surpassed Mike Richter as the Rangers’ winningest playoff goaltender. “Tried to just react and have a little luck there.”
With post-season win No. 42, Lundqvist will become the first goaltender to appear in the Olympic gold medal game and Cup Final in same season.
Even if you’re not John McEnroe or Swedish, it’s hard not to root for Hank, who balances steely determination with spurts of playfulness, like having the nuts to spray hockey’s greatest non-goaltender in the face with water or the nerve to head the puck out of play with just 80 seconds to go in his most important NHL game thus far:
“You have so many highs. You have a few lows where you’re questioning a lot of things, but then you just have to make up your mind. You can’t have any excuses. You just have to go out there. I kept telling myself all day, Believe in what you’re doing. I’ve been in that spot before. It gets silly, you get pulled. You have a tough game, but you just have to stay confident,” Lundqvist said.
“You have so much to lose, but also so much to win.”