Surprise Start: Henrik Lundqvist returns to the net in High Noon Showdown

Anthony Scultore Updated: Mar 1, 2020

David Quinn has just announced Henrik Lundqvist will start against the Flyers today. In what is a crucial game against a hot Philadelphia team, Quinn is rolling the dice with the King, who hasn’t started a game since February 3rd in a loss against St. Louis. A game he gave up 4 goals and had to be pulled for the third period.

Henrik will be in net today, per Coach Quinn. pic.twitter.com/fLBmJ9GfTr
— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) March 1, 2020

Return of the King?

Lundqvist has decent numbers in his career against the Flyers. In 60 contests Lundqvist is 35-18-5 with a solid SV% of .916 and a 2.54 GAA. Those historical numbers aside, Lundqvist has struggled this season and has had particular difficulty coming off long stretches of inactivity. It is a move that certainly can galvanize the group to rally around Lundqvist, but one that could be costly if Henrik gives up two or three early.

DQ on Hank:

"The way the schedule went, we played the Islanders the first game, so we played Georgie. He played well, won again, so we played him again. Now it’s Hank’s time… There might be a little rust, but there’s nothing we can do about that. We want him in there."#NYR
— Vince Z. Mercogliano (@vzmercogliano) March 1, 2020

Kreider and Lineup

McKegg is in and DQ has no timetable on Kreider’s injury.

By Anthony Scultore

Anthony Scultore has been covering the New York Rangers and the NHL since 2014. His work also appears at... More about Anthony Scultore

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