New York Rangers: Henrik Lundqvist's Heating Up

It is no secret that Henrik Lundqvist is the most valuable player on the New York Rangers.

The Swedish-born netminder has been completely dominant for the Blueshirts and is without question one of the hottest goaltenders in the National Hockey League right now.

His overall stats may be skewed due to inconsistencies with the defensive squad that play in front of him, in addition to a poor month of December. But, if he can manage to play like he has now for the rest of the regular season, the Rangers will have a good shot at making the playoffs.

There is no question that without Henrik, the Rangers would not have been in action in the postseason the past two years. That may very well be the case again this year, but whether this team pulls it together to make the cut in the Eastern Conference remains to be seen.

This is Henrik’s time of year; the time in which he begins the rise to a playoff spot as an individual, and sometimes finds ways to single-handedly win games. He may not wear the  letter "C" on his chest, but Hank is one of the obvious leaders on this team, doing so more with his actions than with his words.

When you look at games played in January, you will see that Lundqvist, for the most part, has only been allowing one to two goals per contest. Of course, there a couple of five and six goal results to Carolina and Washington, but other than that, the goals against have been relatively low.

Seeing Martin Brodeur down at the other end of the rink definitely ignites something in Henrik's head, because he has played his two best games against the New Jersey Devils this season.

First there was the 1-0 shootout loss earlier in the month, where both goalies were unbelievable. Then there was Saturday night's 3-1 victory, where Hank had the glove flashing at every opportunity.

The remarkable robbery of Mike Motteau is the save that stands out in my head when thinking back to that eventful evening. He always seems to pull off one of those ridiculous snags each season, and that one is by far the best for Lundqvist in 2009-10.

I mentioned Henrik’s catching glove, an area of his game he has been criticized for his entire career. The opposition would pick that side when given the opportunity to shoot. It was almost as if Lundqvist would try and use the mitt as a second blocker instead of catching the puck.

However, recently goaltending coach Benoit Allaire sat down with Lundqvist before the New Jersey game and had him adjust his style so he could catch the puck more often. Well, we clearly saw what the results were Saturday; that glove was red hot.

If Henrik continues to use the glove like he did against the Devs, it will make him even harder to beat. That may not sound possible with him being near perfect every night, but his arsenal would surely benefit from the addition of a good glove.

My only worry now is the Olympics. Lundqvist will be playing a major role on Team Sweden they are looking to defend the Gold. That quest would entail Hank playing three straight weeks of hockey, and you can only hope that it does not strain him physically.

Like I said, he will be one of, if not the only reason, the Rangers make the playoffs this year, and the last thing we need is the Olympics throwing him off his game.

I have also posted this article at Blueshirt Banter .