Unfair judgment of Lundvquist. His head was obviously not in the game - besides, didn’t you see how the Rangers were slaughtered? Goaltending was not the problem.

Posted by wade from Winnipeg on 11/20/08 at 09:56 AM ET

Lundqvist pulled himelf during the world championships too- but not because he was giving up a lot of goals and putting his team in a bind (they were losing, and he was playing poorly) but because he knew he was letting his team down and that his backup would give them a better shot for the come-from-behind win.

During the championships, Henrik had a bum knee.  This game his head wasn’t really in it.  I think the team would rather he get out of there if he can’t play to his normal level rather than continue to tank and make their ahrd work for nothing.

... and, really, can the ranges say anything if he does pull himself?  How many games have they won where he allowed more than 2 goals?  He’s the only reason that team is doing at all well.

Posted by shanetx on 11/20/08 at 11:09 AM ET

Unfair judgment of Lundvquist. His head was obviously not in the game - besides, didn’t you see how the Rangers were slaughtered? Goaltending was not the problem.

I disagree completely. What happens if the other nineteen guys are “obviously not in the game” either?

If Lundqvist was ill/injured that’s one thing. Otherwise, do your frickin’ job. He may be the team’s best player, but he cannot put himself above the team like that. I wonder if it’s a byproduct of the NY media blowing sunshine up his ass for the past three years?

Posted by shep from california on 11/20/08 at 11:19 AM ET

regarding the comment above…

the other 19 guys were obviously not in the game… did you see how many chances they gave up… the skaters were getting totally outplaye by the canucks… the canucks had 3 breakaway opportunities in the first period.. THREE!!! plus somehow the puck found burrows in front of hte net, wide open.. thats 4 opportunities that were not of the fault of lundy… FOUR!!!!…

this was not lundy’s fault… he probably shoul have stopped 1 or 2 of the goals he gave up.. but after the first few goals, he probably recognized that he had to try to do too much to keep his team in teh game.. this means over playing pucks and taking more chances…

if i was lundy, i would have done the same thing… he didn’t give up on his team, his team didn’t even give him a chance to try.

Posted by ThinkinPink on 11/20/08 at 11:37 AM ET

Something else I read mentioned that the coach motioned to the goaltender while the players were celebrating.  He apparently didn’t pull himself - he just quickly followed the direction from the bench.

It seems more plausible that he would have glanced over at the bench right after the goal, seen the call from the coach, and gotten off the ice as quickly as possible since he was so unhappy with his play, than that he would have quit on the team.

The writer of the article seems to go zero-to-judgemental pretty rapidly.

Posted by Baroque on 11/20/08 at 12:26 PM ET

Yeah, Lundqvist has pulled himself before, which must be why the media immediately assumed he did it this time when he didn’t.

Posted by K24 from NYC on 11/20/08 at 07:53 PM ET