In April 2004, Derek Jeter, then 29 years old and at the height of his powers, fell into a slump that reached an unfathomable 0-for-32.
And he was booed at Yankee Stadium.
Loudly.
If it can happen to Jeter, it can happen to anyone.
Including Henrik Lundqvist, who has been a New Yorker long enough to know not to take it personally.
“I think especially in this town, you have to take a step back sometimes,” Lundqvist, booed and derisively mock-cheered at the Garden during last week’s 7-6 defeat to the Stars, said after Monday’s 3-2 victory over the Kings throughout which the familiar chants of “Henrik … Henrik” rang out.
“There are going to be a lot of questions,” he said. “You try to stay cool and confident.”
If the sky was falling last Tuesday in the wake of three games over four nights in which he had somehow yielded 16 goals on 76 shots in seven periods, the universe is in order once again. Lundqvist allowed a sum of four goals on 84 shots in nine-plus periods, with the Rangers winning three games in five days.
It is folly to attempt to dissect this to death in attempting to determine just how close Lundqvist might be to the apex of his game, but it is clear that all the King’s men benefitted from the franchise goaltender’s stellar performance in which the Blueshirts were badly out-chanced through the first 40 minutes, yet led 2-1 into the third.
“Obviously right now you want to feel good about yourself, so every save matters to me,” Lundqvist said. “In the first period, you want to set the tone, get a good feeling and build off that.
“It was important for us not to get behind and for me to build that confidence that I started three games ago.”
It was kind of a throwback victory for the Rangers, who did not fall behind while kind of rope-a-doping it, out-attempted 48-19 at 5-on-5 through the second period, and who played the final 30 minutes with both Brandon Pirri and Matt Puempel in top-six roles while first Chris Kreider and then Pavel Buchnevich were dropped to the fourth unit after difficult stretches at even strength and on the power play.
It was the kind of victory — that included a throwback, pinpoint stretch feed from Dan Girardi that sprung Derek Stepan on a 2-on-1 off which Puempel converted for a 2-0 lead at 13:28 of the second after Pirri had opened the scoring midway through the first — for which the Rangers were famous for years while relying on Lundqvist.
Like, in every season since the Swede arrived in the Manhattan in 2005.
“He’s our most important player,” said Mats Zuccarello, whose first goal in 16 games and first in 31 games since Nov. 15 that wasn’t an empty-netter gave the Rangers a 3-1 cushion at 6:40 of the third. “We didn’t give him good enough help for a stretch there. He knew he needed to be better, but everyone goes through slumps during the season.”
Lundqvist made a bevy of stops in front as the Kings crashed the net. His most significant save came with 1:32 remaining in the period when he flashed his left pad to deny Jeff Carter’s shorthanded breakaway bid to tie the match at 1-all. There were a half-dozen more of renown, with the netminder spry and sure around his crease, and either smothering first shots or directing rebounds out of harm’s way rather than into the slot.
“I simplified my focus. It helps me be on my toes a little bit,” Lundqvist said. “The way I can describe it is that I just try to simplify everything and have a little higher readiness than before. This game, especially for me, is so much the way I think and the way I read the game and stay in the moment.
“Making the one key save? That’s my job.”
There have been moments upon moments for Lundqvist, even if not the ultimate one. These moments on Monday were familiar ones. And so was the chant and so was the love. All was back to normal in the Castle as if nothing had changed.
Except that after all this time, Lundqvist has been indoctrinated.
Just like Jeter was 13 years ago.