N.Y. Rangers: Henrik Lundqvist Facing More Shots Than Ever

From the desk of:  RAISE GRESCH WITH THE GREATS

EMPIRE STATE

NHL WINTER CLASSIC 

FINAL

Rangers   3

Sabres      2

overtime

Today's game against the Phoenix Coyotes marks the midway point of the The New York Rangers season.  After a poor opening month of October, in which they posted 4-7-2 record, the Blueshirts have gone 17-7-3 since.

With an overall 21-14-5 record (47-points), the Rangers presently reside in fourth place of the Metropolitan Division, and seventh place of the Eastern Conference standings - just one point ahead of the Carolina Hurricanes.  Pittsburgh, meanwhile, unexpectedly finds themselves in ninth place with 45 points.  The tenth place Islanders have 44 points (but are third in the league in scoring).

The Rangers went 8-6-1 in the first half against the other top seven Eastern Conference teams, but are 8-6-3 when back-to-back losses against the Pens and Islanders are added.  They will face the Islanders and Penguins on back-to-back nights again next weekend.

Until then, the Rangers must first get through the lowly Coyotes, and the surprising Western Conference leading Vegas Golden Knights.

They have so far only faced five of the top eight Western Conference teams (Vegas, Los Angeles, Nashville, Dallas, and San Jose) against which, they've posted a 3-2 record.  They are yet to play Winnipeg, St. Louis, and Minnesota.  However, the Rangers are only 1-3 against the likes of Chicago, Anaheim, and Colorado.

As we Blueshirt fans know well, without a top flight centerman, Rangers scoring is a collective effort, and as such they're eighth in the league, averaging 3.1 goals per game.  Defensively, the Rangers rank tenth having allowed 2.8 goals per game.  Their penalty kill is equally solid - ranked sixth in the league - but the power play is middle of the pack.

As usual, Rick Nash continues to lead the team by a wide margin in shots on goal, yet Mats Zuccarello once again leads the team in points.

Otherwise, everything else falls desperately on the shoulders, glove, blocker, stick, pads, and skill, of Henrik Lundqvist.

Let me know when this stops sounding hauntingly familiar ...!

For three straight seasons between 2007 and 2010, Henrik Lundqvist made at least 70 starts.  He's presently on pace to make 68 starts (or so...) - something he hasn't done since the 2010-2011 season when he made 67 starts.  In 2013-2014, he started 62 games, and two years ago made 64 starts.

Henrik turns 36-years old this coming March.  Entering Saturday's game, he has so far started 34 of the Rangers 40 games.  If this keeps up, Lundqvist could threaten his career high of 39 victories set during the 2011-2012 season.  He won 35 games just two seasons ago.

Here's the problem: he's presently facing more shots on goal than at any other time in his career.

During John Tortorella's four seasons as Rangers head coach, the opposition averaged 28.5 shots on goal against Henrik Lundqvist.  In Alain Vigneault's first season, the Rangers opposition averaged 29.1 shots against Henrik, and in 2014-2015, the opposition only averaged 28.8 shots against him.

The cast of blue line characters has obviously changed since then.  Starting with the 2015-2016 season, the opposition has averaged thirty shots or better per game against Henrik Lundqvist:

• (2015-2016) 30.3 shots on goal
• (2016-2017) 30.0 shots on goal
• (2017-present) 31.7 shots on goal against Lundqvist.

That being said, his 2.58 Goals Against Average is .25 points above his career average, while his .922 SV% is on par for his career.

Or, said another way, the Rangers are barley getting by.  They're younger and faster, but their over reliance on Henrik Lundqvist has only grown through the years.

He's faced 1,078 shots on goal so far this season, with at least a thousand more to come.