Rangers Need Underperforming Henrik Lundqvist at His Best to Beat Lightning

After losing Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Final in overtime, the New York Rangers now find themselves in a 2-1 series hole. So now the question is, how can the Rangers stop the high-flying Tampa Bay Lightning attack and turn the series around?

First, let's consider the criticisms New York has faced this postseason:

• Rick Nash is an overpaid, gelatinous substance who is fearful of contact because of his mushy consistency and inability to score goals.
• Power play? More like sour play! Because it’s so bad. That’s the joke. The Rangers power play is bad because it lacks confidence and doesn’t shoot enough.
• Dan Boyle is an anchor around the neck of the team, dragging it down into a grave that already has Martin St. Louis as an occupant.

Those concerns have had various levels of merit at various times. But Nash has done more this postseason than he did last postseason, the power play is running at 20.4 percent, Boyle has three goals and good puck-possession numbers, and St. Louis...well, his decline is impossible to sugarcoat.

The power play, Nash, Boyle and St. Louis can all be bad in a game—even two—and the Rangers can still win.

But if star goaltender Henrik Lundqvist isn’t at the apex of his game, it can be the difference between the punchless Rangers winning and losing a series.

Lundqvist wasn't just off his A-game on Wednesday night; he was downright bad in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Final against the Tampa Bay Lightning. There’s no other way around it. He allowed six goals on 40 shots, and at least four of those were stoppable—especially Nikita Kucherov’s soft overtime winner.

"For some reason, I couldn’t pick it up. It comes at me and looks like it's coming toward me and then I’m just late reacting," Lundqvist said of Kucherov's goal, per ESPNBoston.com's Joe McDonald. "I don’t know why I didn’t pick it up."

And on the one night in these playoffs when the Rangers brought five goals' worth of punch and Tampa bay goaltender Ben Bishop was just as bad—if not worse—at the other end of the ice, Lundqvist let his team down.

Lundqvist admitted that the Lightning's offense is giving him some trouble, via McDonald:

"

It’s really challenging for me the way they move the puck. The way they find open ice in the slot, and scoring chances right in front. I just need to dig deep here to try to be more consistent with my game plan. Try to challenge the shooter then they pass and sometimes you stay back. As a team, if we can be a little bit better, but also I have to be better. Honestly, you’re not going to win if I give up six goals.

"

It's a rare sight to be sure, as Lundqvist has carried the Rangers to enough 2-1 wins in the playoffs to make Dead Puck Era goaltenders stagger backward in awe. Game 3 was strangely different than Game 2, when Lundqvist allowed six goals but was helpless on just about all of them.

Still, two games, 12 goals.

But sure, tell us how Nash isn't scoring enough goals.

"I feel like I need to be more consistent with the way I make decisions with my D and challenging the shooter," Lundqvist said, via McDonald. "But, again, when shooters get more time in the slot, as a goalie, the toughest part is sometimes to be patient. You have to improve and do whatever I can to improve."

Let it be clear: This isn't about Lundqvist killing the Rangers. This is about the Lightning being the superior team, the faster team, the team more capable of scoring goals in bunches, and Lundqvist not being there to offset that attack.

Lundqvist was locked in a battle with Washington Capitals goaltender Braden Holtby during the second round and found a way to be one goal better than him in a Game 7 victory.

The Capitals had their chances, sure, but the margin for error was razor-thin because Holtby made it that way—not because of a consistent bombardment of pucks from the slot.

It's not surprising the Lightning got high-end scoring chances from their high-end players in Game 3. The surprise is Lundqvist was so thoroughly dominated in most of those situations, partly because he's sitting so deep in his crease, fearful of the extra pass.

In Game 2, the Lightning made seam passes for one-time goals, got a breakaway rebound goal and a perfect deflection from Steven Stamkos for another tally. In Game 3, Lundqvist had no hope on Tyler Johnson's four-on-four goal, but he essentially handed a puck to Stamkos for one goal and was simply overpowered or outclassed on the other four markers.

Two completely different postseason games, but when paired with the fact that Lundqvist allowed 14 goals in three games to the Lightning in the regular season, there's cause for worry.

For all the reasons that it's not enough for Nash to make $7.8 million per season and fail to score while doing other things well, it's also not enough for Lundqvist to make $8.5 million per season and fall back on the notion that the goals weren't his fault or were difficult to prevent.

"The way they move the puck. The way they can find openings in the slot. You can give up some scoring chances, but it seems like they can always find that middle and time with the puck," Lundqvist said. "It’s tough when good shooters get time. I just have to be smarter."

Those good Lightning shooters are probably going to get more time in Game 4 and throughout the rest of this series.

For New York to have any chance of stopping them, Lundqvist must live up to the high standards he's set for himself throughout his career and carry the Rangers on his back once more.

All statistics via NHL.com. Contract information courtesy of Spotrac.

Dave Lozo covers the NHL for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter @DaveLozo.