Rangers leaning on Lundqvist in Cup final showdown with Kings #rangers #hockey #kings #playoff

 New York Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist listens for instructions during a drill at practice Monday in Greenburgh, N.Y. The Rangers will face the Los Angeles Kings in Game 1 of Stanley Cup final at the Staples Center on Wednesday night.

source : faceoff.com

Henrik Lundqvist had his game-day face on at practice.

He still smiled and answered all the questions thrown at him Monday about the Los Angeles Kings — the New York Rangers' long-awaited opponent in the Stanley Cup final.

"Exciting. Long flight," the star goalie said Monday before he and his teammates headed to California for New York's first appearance in the final since winning the title in 1994. "East Coast-West Coast. I'll look forward to this matchup."

If there wasn't already enough pressure on Lundqvist to lead his team to the championship, he is now part of the hype machine heading into Game 1 on Wednesday.
Headlines are screaming: "King Henrik vs. the Kings."

"Clever," he said with a slight laugh.

The Rangers have been waiting since Thursday to find out if they would face the 2012 Stanley Cup-winning Kings or the defending champion Chicago Blackhawks in the final.

They took two days off before returning to practice on Sunday. Most of the players said they watched at least part of Los Angeles' third road Game 7 win of this playoff year that night.

So practice on Monday had a bit more focus for the Rangers as they knew exactly who was standing in their way next.

"Any team you play at this time of year is a good hockey team, especially a team that has kind of been around the playoffs and the Stanley Cup finals a couple of times in the last few years," forward Derek Stepan said. "This is a very good hockey club. We have a tough challenge in front of us."

The Kings returned to Los Angeles after their 5-4 come-from-behind overtime win at Chicago and took Monday off. They have played a record 21 playoff games before the final — one more than the Rangers, who eliminated the Montreal Canadiens in six games during the Eastern Conference final.

Before this year, no team that played seven games in each of the first two rounds had reached the final. Now both clubs have done it. The Kings taking it a step further with a trio of seven-game series.

"When you knew you were playing L.A., the adrenaline started coming a little bit more," Lundqvist said. "You've been thinking about this ever since you beat Montreal, but now knowing we're going to L.A., it was easier to focus on what's coming.

"You just try to now come back to the focus and mindset you had last week. It's been nice to get a little break here and get away from it a little bit because it's been that intense."

Both teams will be back to the grind on Tuesday for media day, leading up to the opener the following night.

The Rangers and Kings split two games during the regular season — with each team winning in the other club's building — but they haven't seen each other since Los Angeles' 1-0 victory at Madison Square Garden on Nov. 17.

New York opened with a five-game Western road trip as final renovations were being made at the Garden. Its only win during that stretch was a 3-1 victory at Los Angeles on Oct. 7 — a 28-save performance by Lundqvist.

"Great goaltending. Great defence. Great forwards. Great special teams," Kings coach Darryl Sutter provided as a quick scouting report on the Rangers. "We're up against it again."

The Rangers know that many, if not most, in the hockey world aren't giving them much of a chance to win the Cup. They neither mind nor embrace the role of underdog.

They have heard it before and have just gone about their business.

"When you get into the NHL, you know how hard it is to win," forward Brad Richards said. "The underdog thing and the favourite thing really doesn't mean anything in the locker room. You have to go out and play."

New York needed seven games to get past division rival Philadelphia in the first round. The Rangers weren't expected to beat Pittsburgh from the start, and certainly not after they fell into a 3-1 series deficit.

Montreal was coming off a stirring seven-game victory over defending Eastern Conference champion Boston, so odds makers favoured the Canadiens in their matchup against New York, too.
But here the Rangers are as the last team standing.

"To put it quite simply, we're up against the team that won the Stanley Cup two years ago that just beat the defending Stanley Cup champions, that without a doubt is battle-tested," Rangers coach Alain Vigneault said. "We know exactly what we have to do. If we want to have a chance, we're going to have to bring our best hockey of the year. It's as simple as that.

"We've had a couple of good practices, we're going to have another good one tomorrow and we're going to be ready come Wednesday."

He added one more thing as he left the media interview tent while wearing his sandals to go prepare for a cross-country flight.

"Bring your shorts," he said.

Montreal vs New York : Lundqvist busy being fabulous #playoffs #hockey #goalie #habs #rangers

source : faceoff.com

Standing at a lectern on a riser far from the lights of Manhattan, Michel Therrien laid out what he saw as a path to hope for the Montreal Canadiens. Scoring first is the key, the coach said, before conceding, “usually to win a hockey game, you need to get three goals.”

His team has not won a game this spring when it scores fewer than three goals, including its Eastern Conference final series with the New York Rangers. Montreal is on the verge of elimination heading into Game 5 at home on Tuesday night, in large part because of a very significant barrier to getting those three goals a game.

And it might be the best-looking barrier in hockey.

Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist has kept the Canadiens to fewer than three goals in all three New York wins. He allowed three goals in his only loss of the series, but two of those beat him only after taking odd bounces off bodies in front of his net.

Lundqvist had the best save-percentage in the playoffs on Monday. He had allowed three goals in only four of 18 games — stingier than Los Angeles Kings starter Jonathan Quick (eight times in 17 games) and Chicago Blackhawks starter Corey Crawford (seven in 15) heading into their meeting Monday night.

And now, Lundqvist is one win from his first appearance in the Stanley Cup final.

“It’s exciting ... to know that you’re one game away,” he said late on Sunday night. “You have to motivate yourself to get to a level where you’re helping the team, and that’s pretty good motivation right there.”

Lundqvist arrived at the lectern in Manhattan 40 minutes after the Rangers emerged with an overtime win in Game 4. His teammates had already met with reporters in the dressing room, and his coach had already taken his turn. Everyone else was a warm-up act for him.

In 2012, People magazine named Lundqvist one of the sexiest men alive, describing him as “just the man to heat up the ice” despite all of his clunky goaltending equipment. The 32-year-old has also appeared in Vogue and on The Late Show with David Letterman. He has also prepared an apple pie on air with Martha Stewart, with the host asking him how many “fabulous blocks” he had made in the
previous night’s game.

“New York fits him,” Swedish centre Henrik Zetterberg told Sports Illustrated two years ago. “He wears it well, like his suits. The culture, the food, the fashion ... if he wins (the Stanley Cup), just give him the key.”

Lundqvist wore a tailored grey suit to the lectern on Sunday night, his beard trimmed, his hair styled to the point where someone might wonder where he was headed, at midnight, on a Sunday. The answer, even if he was headed home: Probably somewhere fabulous.

He has made a home in New York, where the Rangers lucked into a franchise goaltender with the 205th pick in the 2000 NHL Draft (the Islanders, that other team in New York, picked goaltender Rick DiPietro first overall that year).

With his win on Sunday, Lundqvist tied Mike Richter (41) for the most playoff wins in franchise history. Earlier in the season, Lundqvist became the team’s all-time leader in regular season wins (309) and shutouts (50).

“I’ve been part of it for nine years, and I’m going to be part of it for a long time, I hope,” he said with a smile. “I’m just really proud to be out there with those guys and hopefully can keep it going a little more.”

He has not been infallible against the Canadiens. Defenceman Francis Bouillon beat him on a clean shot from inside the faceoff circle on Sunday night, and Alexei Markov beat him cleanly from the other side in the previous game.

Most of the eight goals the Canadiens have scored, though, have been through traffic, or through fortunate bounces.

“He’s like any goalie, he’s great at making the first save,” Canadiens captain Brian Gionta said. “You’ve got to get screens, tips and rebounds on him. And you’ve got to make sure that you get second and third opportunities. That’s how it is across the board with all the goalies now.”

Teammate Tomas Plekanec said that means the Canadiens will have to spend more time near the net, getting in his way, obstructing his view.

“We’ve just got to keep wearing him down, keep in front of the net,” he said. “That’s one thing we can to more, too: We can put more pucks in the crease.”

They are down to their final chance. If the Canadiens fail, the Rangers will advance to the Stanley Cup for the first time since 1994, this being the 20-year anniversary of the team’s last NHL championship. The action would shift to Manhattan, where Lundqvist is known simply as “The King.”

“You don’t think about what’s ahead,” he said. “You’re just going in and trying to do your job here. It’s going to be a tough game ... I look forward to that challenge.”