Rangers: Father Time is Coming for Henrik Lundqvist

The New York Rangers have become a consistently winning team in recent years due to having arguably the best goalie in the game.

Henrik Lundqvist has been the man in between the pipes for the Rangers for the last 10 seasons, and it is no coincidence that it was the beginning of the Rangers turning things around as a franchise. In his 10 seasons, Lundqvist has never had a losing record or goals against average over 2.50.

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Despite having Lundqvist, the Rangers have come up short of winning the Stanley Cup in the last two seasons, as they lost to the Los Angeles Kings in the Stanley Cup Finals two years ago, and then lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Eastern Conference Finals last season.

Heading into the 2015-16 season, expectations are once again high for Lundqvist and the Rangers.

“You feel that walking in here — the expectations are higher now,” Lundqvist said to Brett Cyrgalis of the New York Post. “I like that. It’s a good thing.”

“Maybe the difference now, and maybe [over] the past three to four years, I feel like when you get there, you have different expectations on our team that maybe we didn’t have my first four or five years,” said Lundqvist to Cyrgalis. “We were always hoping to be a contender, now we all expect to be up there. That being said, it’s still a lot of work to get to that point. I think it’s good, though, to put a lot of pressure on yourself and the group — you want to be up there.”

May 29, 2015; New York, NY, USA; New York Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist (30) makes a save against the Tampa Bay Lightning during the second period in game seven of the Eastern Conference Final of the 2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Adam Hunger-USA TODAY Sports

The Rangers still have plenty talent on their team despite having a few very successful seasons in the last few years. The Rangers will be starting training camp soon, and with that generally comes the time to set goals for the upcoming season.

“Now is the time to maybe look at the big picture here and see, OK, this is what we want to do — maybe you see yourself do it,” Lundqvist said to Cyrgalis. “But then you break it down and start focusing on just getting a good start.”

Losing games so late in the season with so much on the line is certainly on the minds of players on the Rangers including Lundqvist. The Rangers’ goalie wouldn’t be human if he didn’t think about thinks that could have gone differently in the last few postseasons, but he is also a competitor and will learn from it and move on.

“You relive the different game situations, and you analyze it, and you get upset and frustrated,” Lundqvist said to Cyrgalis. “But you also appreciate the good moments that you had. Then you come to a point where, ‘OK, I can’t walk around and think about this anymore.’ And you move on.

“You still think about it, but you accept that it’s over.”

Lundqvist will be turning 34-years-old in March of this season as he knows that father time is coming for him and his quest to win a ring.

Next: Who is the best Ranger of all-time?

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