This time, Henrik Lundqvist isn’t struggling out of the gate.
Playing for the third time in four days, the New York Rangers goaltender turned aside 37 of 39 shots to earn a 5-2 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets. Along the way he made a stunning, diving save to rob Blue Jackets forward Ryan Johansen of a goal, as you can see above. He now has a 2.00 GAA and .943 save percentage in three starts.
His performance has been in stark contrast to the 2014-15 campaign when he already had two six-goal showings by the time he had played in three games and 2013-14 when he surrendered 15 goals in his first four contests.
“Last thing (Rangers coach Alain Vigneault) told me before I went back to Sweden was, ‘You have to be better when we start.’ That stayed with me the entire summer,” Lundqvist told The Record’s Andrew Gross.
His efforts have been to the benefit of the Rangers as they’ve escaped their rough start to the season unscathed. They can now afford to take a short breather before hosting the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday.
Related: Video: Rookie Lindberg stays red hot with two goals in under four minutes