Henrik Lundqvist wins 400th career NHL game

New York Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist joined an elite group Saturday, picking up his 400th NHL win in a 4-2 victory over the Colorado Avalanche.

The 34-year old Lundqvist became the 12th goaltender in NHL history to reach that mark and the first European born goaltender to do so. He is also the third goaltender to get to 400 wins with one franchise. The others are New Jersey Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur and Chicago Blackhawks goaltender Tony Esposito.

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Lundqvist became the fastest NHL goaltender to hit the total, doing so in 727 games. Brodeur, who holds the NHL record with 691 wins, was previously the quickest at 735. Lundqvist improved to 400-242-73 in his career. In the game he stopped 32 of 34 Avalanche shots on goal.

“I’m just really proud and I’m really thankful for that opportunity. This organization means so much to me and they’ve given me this opportunity to play a lot of hockey,” Lundqvist said. “It’s been 12 years where I’ve been getting a lot of starts and I had a lot of good teammates throughout the years and you think back to them right now obviously because they’re part of it as well. I will definitely enjoy this tonight and kind of reflect a little bit before you go back to work tomorrow morning.”

Heading into the third period Saturday at Madison Square Garden, it appeared that it would be an uphill climb for Lundqvist to reach win No. 400. Colorado forward John Mitchell scored at the 3:01 mark of the second to give the Avs a 2-1 lead.

But the Rangers pounced early on Colorado in the third, which set the stage for their comeback. Kevin Klein’s goal at the 2:50 mark of the third tied the game at 2-2.

Then Rick Nash’s goal at the 5:36 mark of the frame gave New York a 3-2 lead that they wouldn’t relinquish over the NHL-worst Avalanche.

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New York forward Kevin Hayes scored an empty netter at the 18:22 mark for insurance. After the game, Rangers fans stood on their feet and cheered for Lundqvist, who has been the team’s starting goaltender since his rookie season in 2005-06.

“At times it feels surreal that you’re in this moment, that you’re here and playing, and at times you just look at it as your job because you don’t want to complicate it obviously. It’s a lot of fun; I had so much fun here for so many years,” Lundqvist said. “When you win here – and we talked about it last week going into this week – winning at MSG. The crowd is really into it and it’s just the best feeling. That’s why you go to work every morning and try to improve your game.”

It has ben a tough year for Lundqvist, who is on track to have the worst goal-against average and save percentage of his career, but he seems to have found his footing of late. With the victory, Lundqvist improved to 8-1-0 in his last nine decisions and appears to be back in his typical groove.

“Hank worked at this. He worked a little bit on different things with his game. He’s challenging the shooters a little bit more. For me that’s enabling him right now to play a real solid game,” Rangers coach Alain Vigneault said. “The guys in front of him I think are letting him see the puck a little bit more and boxing out better. So you combine those two things together and you got a goaltender who finds his rhythm and finds his game.”

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Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @joshuacooper

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