Debby Wong-USA TODAY Sports
This season hasn’t really gone at all like the New York Rangers would have hoped. Expected to runaway with the no. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference, and potentially a Presidents Trophy, the Rangers have battled just to remain in contention for most of the season. But they’ve found their groove at the right time, as we begin to head into the home stretch of the regular season.
Right in the middle of all of that has been Henrik Lundqvist. After joining in on the struggles that plagued this team early in the year, Lundqvist has returned to his regular form and has this team flying towards the postseason. As the Rangers have crept back into the playoff race, Lundqvist himself has raced right into the Vezina Trophy conversation.
The Vezina race is really wide open this season. There isn’t a favorite in the way that the other individual awards have front runners. There could be any number of guys as finalists when it comes down to it this summer. If he continues at this pace, it could be Lundqvist’s to lose.
Since the beginning of March, Lundqvist has been absolutely fantastic. He doesn’t have a shutout, but has been consistently excellent between the pipes. He has held opponents to two goals or less in an absurd 15 of his 19 starts since that point. His numbers on the season reflect that recent success.
His total goals-against average on the season is currently at 2.12 and he has a .926 save percentage. Each of those figures are among the league’s best netminders. It’s even more impressive considering the workload. He’s started 35 of the Rangers’ 40 games this year, which is one of the highest totals in the league.
There’s no doubt that Henrik Lundqvist is one of the very best in the game when it comes to manning the crease. He continues to show his dominance on a nightly basis, and it has the Rangers in position to be a very dangerous team in the postseason. That should be reflected in some Vezina candidacy this summer.
