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NHL EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: DEVILS v RANGERS

May 14, 2012

Henrik Lundqvist

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: Game One

Rangers Â– 3
Devils Â– 0Â

Q. Can you pick out two or three of the best saves tonight and just recall them?
HENRIK LUNDQVIST: Well, it felt like it was important for me to get a good start. So I had a lot of saves early in the first through a screen, that save, I think it was. And I think had another chance in the second, shorthanded.
We talked about them being really aggressive on their P.K., so actually every time we went on the power play, I tried to prepare just in case.
But we worked really hard. It's always tough to come from a Game 7 so emotional and everything around it and start over. So yesterday was all about regrouping and move your focus to a new team and just a different type of game, I guess.
So I didn't really know what to expect from this game, honestly, coming from seven games, games against Washington. But it pretty much turned out the way I hoped.

Q. Those two plays that McDonagh made in the first period to negate the breakaways, just what did that do to set the tone and can you talk about the collective effort of the D in front of you tonight?
HENRIK LUNDQVIST: They worked so hard tonight. McDonagh, he's such a good skater, and looked like he was pretty far behind but he would catch up pretty fast and made a great play.
And because he's such a great skater, he can be aggressive in his game. And it means a lot to the forwards, he can join the rush, but he also he's really quick to recover if something happens.

Q. Were you able to recognize in the second period your team had trouble getting out of the zone, it was important for you to calm, try to calm them down, getting upbeat, do you see that as a responsibility?
HENRIK LUNDQVIST: Yes, as a goalie you always have to step up when the team needs you not when you feel good and you have your moments.
A lot of times it's when the team's struggling you have to step up. And it's fun, too, to be there and try to make the difference sometimes when the team is going through a tough stretch.
And then they'll bail me out when I'm struggling with it. But the game reminded me a little bit about Game 7. We played really strong first, in the second period they take over a lot and made it really tough for us to get pucks out. But in the third we played really strong and confident.
I just think it means a lot to the whole group that we can go out in a game like this and just raise it a level in the third period. It's really big for us.

Q. You talk a lot about learning from each other. Was there any learning from them tonight, or was this pretty much what you see?
HENRIK LUNDQVIST: It was. You know, like I said, it was still hard to know how the game was going to be played because you played so many games now against other teams. But they controlled the middle pretty good. And then they're very good at knocking pucks down and go the other way.

Q. Everyone inside that locker room described you as such a great self-motivator, but when you look across the rink to Brodeur, do you use that as any fuel for your fire?
HENRIK LUNDQVIST: Yeah, every time you play against great players, it's exciting. And already coming into the league, playing against Marty, growing up he was already a big guy over here, big name.
And, of course, it's inspiring and exciting to play against top guys. It always is. So it's always been fun. It's a great challenge for me to play against him. And I remember I got a few games against Hasek, and I put him up there with him. Just growing up they were the big guys. So it's always exciting, it is.

Q. Can you talk about the sequence in the second period where you stopped Parise three straight times, what happened and also what that meant to the rest of the game?
HENRIK LUNDQVIST: Like you said, they were aggressive on their P.K.s. On that play, I saw him coming and I tried to stay aggressive and tried to stay on my knees, and it worked out pretty good. But he's quick.
And he's always going to be around the net trying to create stuff, and I just have to get on top of my game, even on our power play.
They like to go. They like to take some chances shorthanded. But I thought we did a great job.

Q. One of your best saves was on Girardi. What do you remember about that one?
HENRIK LUNDQVIST: Oh, yeah, yeah, I actually just talked to him before I left the locker room. It was just a big scramble. It could have gone really bad, but we managed to clear that one. It happens.
Like I said, they're pretty aggressive. It's different to play against Jersey compared to Washington. They don't really forecheck at all. Now we have a team that's coming after us.
So our D has to adjust to that a little bit. But, again, I thought we did a pretty good job of that.

Q. Does it say something about Dan Girardi's resiliency coming back into the game and getting that goal?
HENRIK LUNDQVIST: I mean, he's so confident. He's strong with the puck both ways. And one missed play is not going to affect him at all. I thought he played really strong the whole night and helped out in front blocking shots. I always know what to expect from him, and it's a great feeling as a goalie.

Q. Even though you guys won 3-0, do you feel like this game is an indication of what the series is going to be like in terms of very close or intense? What do you think it tells you about the way the series is going to go?
HENRIK LUNDQVIST: I think it's going to be a tight series. Just a big battle out there. And I thought we made a couple of big plays there when it was a 1-0 game. They had a few chances to tie it up. They didn't, and instead we scored the second one.
And that was a big one. But I expect it to be just a big war out there for I don't know how many games. But I look forward to it. It's a fun game, and it was intense out there but I enjoyed it.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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