TAMPA, Fla. — Henrik Lundqvist and a couple of other old standbys picked a nice time to reassert themselves for the New York Rangers.
New York’s star goalie reverted to his reliable ways after two subpar performances, and Rick Nash and Martin St. Louis emerged from playoff scoring droughts Friday night to help the Rangers shut down the Tampa Bay Lightning 5-1 in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals.
Lundqvist stopped 38 shots after allowing 12 goals while losing the previous two games. Nash had two goals and an assist, and St. Louis — the former Tampa Bay captain — contributed a third-period goal as New York evened the best-of-7 series 2-2 heading back home for Game 5 on Sunday night.
“The last 48 hours or so, it’s been pretty tough trying not to overanalyze or complicate things soul searching,” Lundqvist said. “I feel like the entire team stepped up. It feels so good when you’re feeling like you’re doing it together and not just one or two guys.”
Lundqvist redeemed himself by handling nearly everything the speedy and skilled Lightning threw at him.
“It’s a funny game,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “People are going to wake up in the morning and look at the box score and say: ‘Oh wow, Tampa got waxed.’ But if you’re in the building, you probably don’t see it that way.”
The Lightning outshot the Rangers 39-24 but couldn’t rattle Lundqvist, who rejected Stamkos from point-blank range and moments later stopped Alex Killorn on a breakaway during one sequence with Tampa Bay trying to get back in the game in the second period.
Lundqvist stopped 18 of 19 shots in the period, and had 13 more saves in the third.