Lundqvist Takes Lead Role on Broadway

Henrik Lundqvist proved, for the third time in this series, why there is no position in sports that can have as big an affect on the outcome of a sporting event as that of an NHL goaltender.

The King stopped 38 of the 39 shots that were thrown at him, including 10 of 11 from Alex Ovechkin, to push the Caps to the brink of elimination.

Ovechkin was able to cut the Blueshirts' lead to one with 18 minutes left in regulation, virtue of a blazing snapper that ringed off the crossbar and in. It is worth noting that the Morris-Mara pairing was on the ice.

With under ten minutes left in regulation, Sean Avery nearly blew it for the Rangers. He took two bone-headed penalties, both in the offensive zone, which gave the Capitals' deadly power-play two chances to tie the tilt.

But, the Rangers were able to show why they boast the best penalty-kill in the league...and arguably the best tender in the world.

The Great Eight was like a man possessed in the third period. He did everything in his power to tie the game...but Lundqvist was simply too strong.

What cannot be forgotten is the effort of Blueshirts' Captain Chris Drury. Playing with what I suspect to be a broken or fractured wrist, he was able to notch his 17th game-winning playoff goal after a crucial blunder by Simeon Varlamov. Drury tossed an easy shot in on the young Caps' netminder, but after booting the easy catch, Drury was able to follow his shot, find the puck trickle outside the crowd in front of the net, and snap it upstairs.

For the Caps to win three straight, there is one glaring hole in their game that must be fixed.

They need Mike Green to, well...not suck?

Green was awful tonight. The Rangers have done an excellent job of making him go back into his own end and retrieve pucks. It's possible New York had more hits on Mike Green than they had shots on Simeon Varlamov.

The Rangers should consider themselves fortunate. They were fortunate to get away with giving the Caps six power-plays. They were fortunate to escape a game in which their power-play continued to drop the ball.

But the Blueshirts are most fortunate to have Henrik Lundqvist standing between the pipes...