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NHL STADIUM SERIES: RANGERS v ISLANDERSJanuary 29, 2014Henrik LundqvistNEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK RANGERS – 2 Q. You've now played in three of these games and won all three. Do these games ever get old for you? HENRIK LUNDQVIST: No, it was another amazing night. You're just thankful to get this opportunity. And everyone's showing up tonight to make it so special. I said out there on the ice, it's a great stadium, but you need the fans to make it special. They showed up. And it was a little cold, but it was awesome again. Little different type of game tonight. I thought we played really smart. We talk about going into this game and we really have to respect our skill and their transition game. We just kept making really good decisions without the puck and that kind of won us the game, I think. Q. Sunday you mentioned when you guys built that big lead you had a moment to take it in and really enjoy the moment. Little different game tonight, not so much taking in the crowd? HENRIK LUNDQVIST: Yes and no. I mean, you have moments during the game where you relax and take it all in. I love the feeling when you walk out to warm‑ups the first time you come off from being in the locker room for a couple hours. You're just excited to get going. That's a great feeling. But also, especially the last couple seconds was really intense, and then it came down to the wire like we had in Philly a couple years ago. It was exciting. It was fun to play. I had a little concern about the cold, but it was not an issue at all. I stayed pretty warm throughout the game and it was just fun to be out there. Q. Maybe on Sunday you don't start the game exactly the way you wanted to. Do you feel like that experience helped you starting this one, and you felt more comfortable starting throughout this one? HENRIK LUNDQVIST: Absolutely. I felt more calm and in a good place when the game started. I think the preparation was a little bit better, but I was definitely more relaxed playing this game. But also the way we started the game. It was a lot easier for a goalie to get a good start. We didn't give up any odd‑man rushes, and we played, like I said, a really smart game. So for me, it was just about doing my job and not trying to overdo anything. So, yeah, it felt like we were really built on each period. We had our best period in the third, I think. Q. Henrik, the fans, the atmosphere in Yankee Stadium, how do these games meet your expectations? HENRIK LUNDQVIST: Well, everything I hoped for. I was hoping for two wins. I was hoping for two sold out days or nights, and just to walk away from this with an awesome experience, and that's what we have now. We talked about it in the last game you want to win these games to be able to look back at it in a couple years, couple months whatever, to have a smile on your face instead of thinking about the mistakes or the loss or whatever. Now it's two days that I will remember the rest of my life. It was just overall a great experience for all of us. Q. Have you started to prepare for the Olympics at all? Are you concerned about any of the potential terror threats in Sochi? HENRIK LUNDQVIST: The Olympics is definitely in the back of my mind. The closer we get, obviously, the more we think about it. You start talking to teammates and so mentally, yeah. It's getting closer. We still have a few games to go here, but it's going to be a quick turnaround. So you definitely have to be ready mentally and physically when it starts and you travel over there. When it comes to the threat back there or over there, it's, I think every Olympics has some sort of threat. The security is really high in Torino and Vancouver the same thing. I think when you're there, you tend not to focus on it. You just want to focus on what you have to do and enjoy your time there. You know going there it's going to be a lot of security. It's just part of it. Q. Just take us, as you look at this team in front of you now, couple small additions with Klein, Carcillo coming into the lineup. A.V. being able to run some steady lines. What do you see in front of you? Obviously it's only two games with the win streak. But things that you can point out going forward towards the break? HENRIK LUNDQVIST: Yeah, I must say ever since we‑‑ after Christmas we started our trip in Florida and we've been playing a lot more consistent. I think there are so many areas of our game that it's been a lot better, starting with me. But it's been a lot of good things. I like that we can win games when we score a lot. We can also win low‑scoring games. Our special teams can step up and win games for us. So we've been winning in different ways. That is a big thing going down the stretch. It's exciting to feel that we're growing here as a group, as a team and now is the time you want to do it. It's not in the fall. Yeah, we did have a tough start and it was up and down. But now is the time where you feel like things are moving in the right direction and you want to try to get better and better. Who knows. Right now our focus is to just get into the playoffs, but once we're in there, you know, a lot of things can happen. Q. In what ways does the Marc Staal look like the old Marc Staal to you lately? HENRIK LUNDQVIST: He's strong with the puck. When he's playing confident, seems like his reach is so long and he just gets the puck, the pucks in corners and in the front of the net. It's huge having him playing so confident and making good decisions without the puck. For a goalie, it's so much easier when we're under pressure they manage to make these simple plays. It might look simple, but under pressure it's not. The confidence they have right now. It's a big thing to get away from pressure and come out of the zone with speed and it definitely helps the transition game. Q. How much different was it playing under the lights here at night as opposed to the daylight on Sunday? HENRIK LUNDQVIST: It wasn't that much different. At first I didn't go with that black stuff, but there was a lot of glare during warm‑ups, so I changed my mind and started using it and it helped a little bit. But, obviously, with the lights, it's almost like this here, the light is coming more at you instead of straight down, so that is a big difference compared to playing in a normal indoor stadium or arena. But you get used to it pretty fast. Q. Would you say this was a typical Ranger‑Islander game with the physical play, considering the conditions, and the ice and where you are at out here at Yankee Stadium? HENRIK LUNDQVIST: I thought it was a great game. It was fun to play. Obviously, as a goalie, you don't want to see a lot of goals, so it was a lot more fun to play this one. If you're not smart with the puck, it's a different game with this team. They come so fast, and they have a lot of skill, if you don't respect that, it's going to be a tough night. But we made sure. We don't want to end up paying the price for a couple mistakes here and there. They're quick to turn it around on you. It was a lot, especially in the first, we made sure to get pucks deep. Yeah, I think it will look like a typical game when we play against these guys. When we play smart, we have more success playing this type of hockey. Q. What kind of element does this game add to the Islanders‑Rangers rivalry? HENRIK LUNDQVIST: I don't know what it adds. Obviously, it's a special game. This one and against the Devils it's a game you will remember for the rest of your career. Who knows if we'll get another opportunity to play here. But it will definitely stick with me the rest of my career. It's two great memories. I don't know if it's going to add anything to the rivalry, but just personally it's great memories. I have my family here and just thinking of all the great memories that I've had now in the last five days. I love it. Q. You've had three games against the Islanders in the last two weeks. Is that difficult because these games are so physical? HENRIK LUNDQVIST: I don't know if it's difficult. It's fun. We're playing a team that they're in the mix. They're trying to get back in the hunt here, so they're going to play a desperate game. They're a good team too, so a lot of skills. Also, I think the fans enjoy it. In the stands you can tell the atmosphere is a little different when you play them. So I enjoyed it. Like you said, we have a couple more big games against them coming up here. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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