As the stage grows, Henrik Lundqvist refuses to blink

It was overtime in Game 4 now at the Garden, so it was The King eyeball-to-eyeball with The Kid, and one of them was going to blink.

Chris Kreider slamming Carey Price into next season, Brandon Prust breaking Derek Stepan's jaw, Michel Therrien sounding as if he suspected Bill Belichick had been placed in charge of special ops at the Garden, Alain Vigneault defending his team's honor and methods — all the gamesmanship and war of words, none of it mattered to Lundqvist.

What mattered to Lundqvist was his obligation to his teammates, to his franchise, to Rangers fans, to his adopted town, to be the best player on the ice with the game and the series and everyone's dreams on the line.

What mattered to Lundqvist was reminding young Dustin Tokarski that there was only one King, and just because you wore your big-boy pants in Game 3 doesn't mean you are Ken Dryden just yet.

What mattered to Lundqvist was seizing this moment that is guaranteed to no one, a moment Brad Richards and

Marty St. Louis have waited 10 long years to treasure again, an elusive butterfly of a moment Lundqvist needs to catch, finally, to cement a legacy of greatness that has been waiting for him.

In truth, The King was not great Sunday night. Just great when it mattered. Just great when his team needed to be saved from its own mindless penalties.

The Rangers had asked him to hold a 2-1 lead on a Derick Brassard goal, and he could not, could not stop a P.K. Subban power-play slap shot to his glove side two minutes into the third period.

"His shot was going wide — not quite, but it was going for my left side, and then it hit the guy in the middle and went back five hole," Lundqvist said.

Now the Rangers asked their King to give them, give someone, a chance to win Game 4 and grab a stranglehold on the series.

In the final, desperate minutes of regulation, it had been better for Lundqvist to be lucky than good.

An Alex Galchenyuk wrister ricocheted off the crossbar and slithered perilously across the goal line, and the crowd at the Garden gasped.

But now there was no margin for error, one mistake would prove fatal, would change the complexion of the Eastern Conference final.

A glove save on Subban on the early power play.

"Henrik … Henrik … Henrik."

A stop on Andrei Markov.

A stop on Michael Bournival.

"Henrik … Henrik … Henrik."

And then, finally, Tokarski blinked.

Carl Hagelin fed the opportunistic St. Louis with a cross-ice pass and Rangers 3, Canadiens 2 was over.

"I think in that situation," Lundqvist said, "I'm more in Marty's head, what he sees and what he's thinking. I mean, you're on edge. You're going out and you try to be calm about it. So to see that play develop and him getting that much time, you just hope for a great shot, and we got it."

And King Henrik, fortunate he doesn't have to kick save the Spirit of St. Louis, is one win from the Stanley Cup final, five wins from hoisting Lord Stanley over his head at last.

"You don't think about what's ahead … but it's exciting too, to know that you're one game away," Lundqvist said. "I mean, you have to motivate yourself to get to a level where you're helping the team, and that's pretty good motivation right there."

All of New York had expected Lundqvist to make Hagelin's opening goal in the first period stand up:

A cotton-picking glove save on Alexei Emelin.

"Henrik … Henrik … Henrik."

A right leg save off a rebound with Brian Gionta perched within a short sniper's range on the King's right doorstep.

"Henrik … Henrik … Henrik."

But then, midway through the second period, Lundqvist whiffed on a wrister over his left shoulder from Francis Bouillon, streaking in from The King's right following a feed from David Desharnais on a 2-on-1 break. Tie game.

"I tried to be patient," Lundqvist said, "and he just beat me with a pretty good shot. Maybe I made the first move and came down a little too fast."

It means plenty to him that he is now tied with Mike Richter (41) for Rangers playoff wins. Only two years ago, on another May 25 in Newark against the Devils, Lundqvist stood six wins from the Cup, and could not get closer.

"Overall," Lundqvist said, "it felt like a good game."

The best ones are yet to come.

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