AP Photo Courtesy Getty Images by Ed Betz

Henrik Lundqvist played like a King. We’ve been awfully critical of the third-year Ranger netminder this season but yesterday wasn’t one of those days as the recently re-signed 26 year-old Swede was utterly brilliant in backstopping his team to a 1-0 home shootout victory over a pesky Bruins team.

Having not beaten Boston all season and with sixth place in the Eastern Conference up for grabs, the Rangers needed a stellar effort because even without captain Zdeno Chara and Aaron Ward, their opponents made it a challenge to finally get two points.

The biggest reason had everything to do with Lundqvist’s counterpart Alex Auld, who also was outstanding in not allowing anything to get by him even when his own teammate Andrew Ference nearly put the puck in their net late in regulation.

That was the kind of day it was as both goalies shined taking turns making highlight reel saves which impressed the MSG crowd.

If the opening stanza was without drama, the same couldn’t be said for the next 45 minutes. Each team took turns attacking and generating high quality chances but they were stopped in their tracks by both guys in net.

One such Ranger opportunity saw a sprawling Auld get across to rob Brendan Shanahan of a sure goal and then jump on top of the rebound.

But maybe the best sequence came courtesy of Lundqvist, who made two straight flat out denials on what looked to be certain goals. After an initial stop while down, he stuck his legs in the air and got a piece of a shot destined for the back of the net.

Less than a minute later, he just closed the pads on another Boston opportunity. 

The game would go to overtime. Neither side found a way to beat either sharp goalie forcing it to a shootout. I’m not an avid supporter of extra points being decided by the skill competition. However, this was the only way it would be on Sunday.

Rookie Nigel Dawes would be the hero as he converted for the third consecutive time in the shootout going low to the stick side on Auld. A strategy Shanahan tried but didn’t convert on in Round One.

Lundqvist hadn’t fared well against Boston in shootouts this season. Boston won the last two. In particular, Phil Kessel had his number. This time, he was ready for the second-year pivot and patiently outwaited him to make the stop.

After a miss by Chris Drury, it came down to Boston rookie David Krejci. When Lundqvist slid across to deny him, the Blueshirts had finally won against Boston pulling a point ahead in the standings and improving to 9-0-3 in their last 12. The club’s best stretch since 1993-94 when they won something called a Stanley Cup.

“It was fun to play and it felt really good to finally beat them in a shootout,” a very pleased Lundqvist expressed to the AP after finishing with 29 saves and picking up his league-leading ninth shutout (tied with Columbus’ Pascal Leclaire).

 “They had a couple of good players who made a couple of good moves. It was a big statement for us to beat this team.”

“I was just thinking about trying to get the puck past him. He played an unbelievable game,” Dawes, the only scorer on the day indicated. “I just wanted to find an opening, and the first thing that popped out at me was low blocker.”

There’s no question that this was one of the more exciting scoreless games you’ll see as both netminders were tremendous. Auld finished with 35 saves in a losing effort earning his team an important point.

No player was going to beat either and it made for quite the conclusion.

The Rangers are playing great hockey right now and they’ll look to continue it tonight when they visit a desperate Buffalo squad, who trails the Flyers by four points for the final Eastern playoff berth. It definitely won’t be easy.

We’ll see how they come out.