Henrik Lundqvist
Look at this graphic, courtesy of TSN (above).
Lundqvist has been pulled five times, and it’s December.
Five. Times.
To say that these statistics are scary is a complete understatement.
We can blame the defense and forwards all we want and they do deserve a whole lot of it, but Lundqvist needs to stop the puck.
Have there been times when the opponent has been allowed to tee up on Hank unabated? Yes.
But if you remember, the Capitals did that throughout the entire Eastern Conference Semi-Finals last year.
The difference?
It seems like Hank has been buckling under all of the pressure that he puts on himself, and he does put it all on himself.
The team obviously needs to play better in front of Hank, but the famous defensive shell that has been a staple of the Rangers play does not work if Lundqvist continues to let in goals like this:
Is this goal one that Lundqvist should stop? The answer is a boarder-line call.
But that is just the point, because Hank usually stops shots like these.
Lately if a shot can go in, it most likely will and that is not good enough for a team that builds it’s foundation on strong goal tending.
