Henrik Lundqvist was playing Broadway and the world seemed in its natural order for the first-place Rangers.
First place clinched in the Metropolitan Division. First place in the East by three points over the Canadiens, with one more game to play than Montreal. First place overall, tied at 107 points with the Ducks, but with two extra games to play than
Anaheim.
It was 6-1 at the Garden over the Devils on Saturday in Lundqvist's first home game since Feb. 2. And though everyone knows just what Cam Talbot did for his team by going 16-4-3 with a 2.16/.929 slash line through the Swede's protracted absence, there's just a different look and just a different feel when The King is wearing The Mask.
"They are both solid goaltenders and have been fantastic for us all year long, but I think at the end of the day, Hank is at a level Cam would like to reach one day," Derek Stepan told The Post. "Hank is an elite player, and no disrespect to Cam, but Hank is going to be a big part of our push here."
There weren't many, if any, hairy moments for the Rangers once they took a 3-0 lead at 12:24 of the first, knocking Cory Schneider out of the game after getting the three goals within a span of 7:14, the final two within 25 seconds.
But the Devils had the better chances right out of the gate, only to be denied by Lundqvist, who reacted quickly on a Dainius Zubrus deflection at 0:35 and then made a terrific stop on Travis Zajac, alone in front off a right wing feed from Mike Cammalleri at 3:39. There was another early dandy on Steve Bernier at 9:32, when it was 1-0 on Rick Nash's career-best 42d of the season.
Lundqvist was quick and precise in his movements. He was patient while anticipating the play. He was acrobatic facing a handful of flurries from around the net, turning in a number of circus saves to keep the Devils off the scoreboard until Tuomo Ruutu slipped one through with just 3:30 remaining in the match.
It was then, after the shutout had been spoiled, that the Garden fans saluted Lundqvist with an ovation to accompany the familiar, but long absent, chant of "Henrik … Henrik."
"When they scored that goal, that was a really nice moment for me," Lundqvist said. "It's a lot of fun to be back playing here. It's been a couple of months and I was really excited to play in front of our fans here.
"To get that support means a lot."
Lundqvist has allowed five goals on 98 shots — 36 in this one — in winning three straight after his (and his team's) misadventure in Boston upon his return last Saturday afternoon. Maybe he still feels that there is rust to be chipped away, but if so, it is minimal.
"I feel like I'm close to where I want to be and need to be moving forward," Lundqvist said. "I try to work on my game every period I play. I feel better and better. So it's a lot of fun to feel that progress.
"I wasn't sure when I was coming back. I knew I worked extremely hard and physically I felt I was in shape. Benny [goaltending coach Benoit Allaire] kept telling me that [I] was going to be fine, just relax and play [my] game. That's what I'm trying to do."
It was victory No. 50 for the Rangers, who achieved that milestone for the fourth time in franchise history off a balanced effort in a game where there were swatches of open ice at both ends of the rink. Stepan got a nifty breakaway shorthanded goal off a homerun feed up the middle from Nash. Dom Moore scored twice on a night where his fourth line played effectively. Keith Yandle and Derick Brassard also scored.
There are four games to go for the Rangers, who will use this final week as prep time for the playoffs.
"Coming back from last year, we set the bar high," Lundqvist said. "We want to come back and give ourselves a chance to play for the Cup again, and this is the first part. We have to take care of business in the regular season. The big challenge is still ahead."
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