Henrik Lundqvist reaches back and pulls one at the last second to rob Brad Boyes in the shootout.

Per NHL.com:

When it is time to talk about Vezina Trophy candidates and goaltenders who have a convincing case for the Hart Trophy, Boston’s Tim Thomas and Nashville’s Pekka Rinne dominate the conversation.

Thomas and Rinne have earned the distinction as front-runners for those trophies with their sparkling numbers and stellar play this season. Barring something unforeseen, both likely will be finalists for the Vezina and perhaps one or both will have a crack at the Hart.

But if there is one goaltender who is making an under-the-radar push for Vezina consideration during the season’s homestretch, it is Henrik Lundqvist of the New York Rangers.

The two statistics everyone turns to when judging a goaltender are goals-against average and save percentage. Thomas (2.06 goals against average, .937 save percentage) and Rinne (2.07, .930) have been the leaders in those categories for a better part of this season. Lundqvist (2.31, .922) ranks fifth and sixth, respectively, in those categories among goaltenders with at least 50 appearances this season.

Lundqvist, however, has other credentials that make him a dark horse. The three-time Vezina finalist has made 59 starts, three more than Rinne and 11 more than Thomas, and his 32 wins are two more than Thomas and four more than Rinne.

Not only does Lundqvist have more victories, but his 16 victories in one-goal games (and two-goal games with an empty-net goal) are three more than Thomas and Rinne.

Throw in the fact that Lundqvist picked up his League-leading 10th shutout in a 1-0 win against the Florida Panthers on Tuesday night, and it begs the question — why isn’t Lundqvist getting mentioned much as at least a candidate for the Vezina?

“I certainly think he’s underappreciated. I don’t think he gets the credit he deserves,” Rangers forward Brandon Dubinsky said. “Ten shutouts is an incredible feat for a season, never mind with a tenth of the season left.”

When it comes to goal support the Rangers average 2.81 per game, which is 12th in the League. The Predators score just 2.53 per game; the Bruins are fifth in the NHL at 2.99 per game.

But those numbers are a bit deceiving. On 29 occasions this season, the Rangers have scored two goals or fewer for Lundqvist. Rinne, despite playing for a team that has scored far fewer goals this season, has only had to deal with that lack of support two more times than Lundqvist.

“We haven’t scored a lot of goals for him this year,” Dubinsky said.  “We’ve had six-goal games, seven-goal games, but the consistent three or four goals every night hasn’t been there.

“He’s had to be unreal, unbelievable to keep us where we’re at. I don’t think he gets enough credit. He’s, in my eyes — and I’ve shot on all the goalies — I think he’s the best in the League.”

As the Rangers battled through injuries to key players all season — Marian Gaborik, Ryan Callahan, Vinny Prospal and Chris Drury have missed 144 games between them and there have been others — Lundqvist has been the constant keeping the Rangers afloat while everyone was on the mend.

The injury bug inhibiting the Rangers all season hasn’t hit Lundqvist personally, but when backup goaltender Martin Biron broke his collarbone on Feb. 28 and was lost for the season, the stretch run fell squarely on the Swedish goalie’s shoulders.

The 29-year-old Lundqvist, who hasn’t played fewer than 70 games since 2006-07, said before the season the signing of Biron in the summer was great for him because it would keep him fresh for the playoffs. Lundqvist said his massive workload never left him feeling fatigued mentally or physically, but he wondered if it would keep him from being sharp enough to take the Rangers on a deep playoff run.

The way Lundqvist talked after Tuesday’s game against the Panthers, which marked his 18th consecutive start, it sounded as though he’s in the best condition of his career.

“I feel great. I don’t feel tired. I don’t think my body has felt this good in a lot of years,” said Lundqvist, who is 7-1-0 since March 4 with a .927 save percentage. “I’ve always had some issues. It’s always been something the past seven-eight years — knees, hips, back. Right now, I’m just happy to go out to practice and nothing is bothering me, knock on wood.

“I’m just happy I feel this good right now.”

The Rangers hold a three-point edge on the Buffalo Sabres for seventh place in the Eastern Conference and are six points clear of the ninth-place Carolina Hurricanes. With the inexperienced Chad Johnson unlikely to get a start with the Rangers battling for a playoff spot, Lundqvist could play the Rangers’ final 25 games of the regular season.

While Lundqvist is carrying the load, Thomas has a very capable backup in Tuukka Rask easing his burden down the stretch. Rinne is in the same boat as Lundqvist in terms of being virtually on his own down the stretch, but Lundqvist has the edge in durability with Rinne missing 10 games due to knee surgery and a lower-body injury.

Lundqvist might not be the favorite for the Vezina, but a late-season push may at least get him an invitation to attend NHL Awards in Las Vegas this summer.

“It’s not getting lost in the room at all amongst the boys, and I think that’s what really matters,” Rangers forward Ryan Callahan said. “To a man in the room, I think we all know he’s the most important guy for us to win games and he’s the one who most nights gets us the win. I think the big thing is in here, we know he’s our guy and he’s having a Vezina-type year.”

Per NHL.com:

John Tortorella must have had sweat dripping down his back and some choice words for his players as the final seconds of regulation time bled off the clock Thursday, but the Rangers coach proudly praised his team’s guts following a wild 4-3 shootout win over the Los Angeles Kings.

“We’ve been like that all year long,” Tortorella said, “and I like that about our club.”

Gorgeous shootout goals from Erik Christensen and Mats Zuccarello lifted the Rangers to their second win in as many games after a 0-5-1 slide. They blew a pair of one-goal leads in the third period — a fact not lost on their coach — but it wasn’t enough to sway his opinion about his club, which with 66 points remains seventh in the Eastern Conference.

“Are we playing our best hockey now? No. Did we make some mistakes? Yes,” Tortorella said. “But, we do, we’ve got some balls and I hope that keeps transforming and you find ways to win hockey games in the grind that’s going to come up here. We’ve got a tough schedule.”

The Rangers are in Newark on Friday night to take on the red-hot Devils. They host the first-place Flyers on Sunday.

“We’ve just got to try to squeeze everything out of ourselves as we go through this,” Tortorella added. “I’m really happy we found a way to get the two points to start the weekend.”

On the other side of the hallway, Kings coach Terry Murray was just as happy to get one point. With it Los Angeles moved into the top eight in the Western Conference, knocking Calgary out. The Kings are now 8-0-3 in their past 11 games, a monumental improvement from the 2-10-0 stretch they went through from Dec. 29-Jan. 20.

“We’ve got it back together,” Murray said. “We’re OK. We’re coming together.”

Considering this was their eighth straight road game and that they played in Columbus on Wednesday — winning in a shootout no less — Murray’s team had an excuse to fold after Marian Gaborik‘s knuckling shot beat goalie Jonathan Bernier (34 saves) to give the Rangers a 2-1 lead 6:10 into the third period.

They didn’t.

Matt Greene scored his first goal of the season exactly 100 seconds later to make it 2-2. His shot from the right point deflected off Brian Boyle‘s stick and changed direction enough to fool Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist (25 saves).

The Kings had to be exhausted and deflated after Artem Anisimov was credited with yet another go-ahead goal for the Rangers 16:52 into the third period. Anisimov got a piece of Brandon Dubinsky‘s shot and the puck went in off Bernier’s skate.

Guess what? The Kings responded.

Dustin Brown scored his second of the night 47 seconds later to send the game into overtime. He lifted a bad-angle shot from the goal line and the puck actually bounced off the back of Lundqvist’s head and into the net.

“We lost a point, but I’m looking at it as a tremendous third period,” Murray said. “We’re playing back to back, we get to our beds last night at 3 in the morning and it’s demanding to come to the building today and play a team that has been sitting here fresh and a team that is playing pretty good.

“We come back twice in the period, so I’m not looking at it as a loss at all. It’s very positive.”

Murray had to be pleased with how overtime went, too, considering the Kings started a man down thanks to Alexei Ponikarovsky‘s double-minor for high sticking Marc Staal at the end of regulation. The Rangers couldn’t capitalize and 1:48 into the extra session Dubinsky was called for high-sticking, creating the rare 3-on-3 situation.

Neither team looked like it had much of a plan during 3-on-3, but it’s hard to blame them. Tortorella pointed out that it’s not something they ever practice because it rarely ever happens.

“I just don’t want to get scored on there,” Tortorella said. “You sit there and hope.”

His wishes came true as the game went to a shootout. The Kings came in 7-1 in tiebreakers, but the Rangers were 5-2 and have three of the best shooters in the NHL in Christensen, Zuccarello and Wojtek Wolski. Lundqvist isn’t too shabby in goal either, and he’s confident knowing his guys will likely score for him.

Christensen improved to 4-for-4 on the season with a nifty forehand-to-backhand move, and Zuccarello went to 5-for-6 by slowing up before he used his quick hands to beat Bernier. Jarret Stoll kept the shootout alive by snapping a shot past Lundqvist and Wolski was stopped by Bernier’s poke check, but it Lundqvist stopped Anze Kopitar in the third to seal it — and pick up his 200th career victory.

“When we scored the second one we felt like we had it, and when we scored the third one we definitely felt like we had it,” Lundqvist said. “They had some luck there I think on the two goals, it bounced on our guy and the third one hit my head and went in. They kept working so we have to give it to them, but we responded in the right way.”

The response from both teams was indicative of how they approached Thursday’s game. Neither wanted to give up that extra point, let alone two, because of how valuable they are nowadays.

The Kings are smack dab in the middle of an unreal race in the Western Conference and were just hoping to keep a good thing going. The Rangers lost six in a row before beating Pittsburgh on Sunday, so they desperately wanted another win to start building a streak and pulling away from Carolina, Atlanta and Buffalo.

New York won, but it’s hard to say Los Angeles lost.

“You knew they weren’t going to give up or let up,” said New York’s Ryan Callahan, who scored a goal, had an assist and was easily the best forward on the ice. “It’s a good team over there. They’ve got a lot of speed, they work hard and it’s really tough to get through the neutral zone on them. But we kept at it, kept with the game plan and it paid off in the end.

“It’s really big. We showed some character through it.”