Team Sweden’s best weapon might just be their biggest liability heading into their World Cup opener Sunday against the Russians.
The blue line is perhaps the most skilled in the tournament, elite skating and vision prevalent on nearly every shift. The forward group is packed with quality two-way players with the line of Daniel Sedin, Henrik Sedin and Loui Eriksson firing on all cylinders. However, there are some questions and concerns surrounding goaltender Henrik Lundqvist and his recent subpar performances.
Lundqvist took a puck to the ribs earlier this month while preparing for the tournament. He said afterwards he was fine but we could be seeing some lingering effects as he hasn’t looked like his usual solid self while donning the Tre Kronor.
Or maybe it has nothing to due with his ribs. Perhaps it’s that he hasn’t consistently played like the Lundqvist we’ve come to know all year long. He’s coming off a regular season with the New York Rangers in which he had a career-worst 2.48 goals-against average, and in five post-season games against the Pittsburgh Penguins he had a 4.39 GAA and .867 save percentage.
In his two pre-tournament appearances, the 34-year-old recorded a 4.49 GAA, a stunningly scanty .778 save percentage and was chased from the crease by Team Europe after allowing five goals on 22 shots in a 6-2 loss Wednesday.
Not all of the goals were necessarily his fault — and he even stopped a penalty shot — but on at least three of them, he simply didn’t look sharp.
“I don’t think we did a really good job in front of him,” defenceman Anton Stralman told reporters in Washington after the game. “You look at the goals, there’s breakaways, there’s tips, individual mistakes. That cost us the game. I don’t blame him for any of the goals, but I’m sure he wants to catch a few of those. But it’s just an overall poor performance for the defence. Everything.”
Lundqvist, like every goalie, has gone through rough patches in the past and he always seems to bounce back, so he doesn’t seem to be fretting over it.
“I think you just have to learn from it, analyze it, and talk about the game and what was good about it, and then you move on,” Lundqvist told reporters after the drubbing. “There were still a lot of good things that happened out there, and you focus on that, but also the things that’s not good enough, you try to correct them.”
Sweden head coach Rikard Gronborg echoed that sentiment.
“Well, Henrik is such an experienced goalie that he’s gone through some adversity,” Gronborg told reporters at media day in Toronto Thursday. “I know he’s going to rise through adversity, and same thing with the team. I think he’s been through this before, and he’s going to excel when he really needs to. Me as a coach, I’m looking more at how we get in those weird situations, why we’re giving up the odd man rushes, and I’m more looking at the situational play for the whole entire team more than him. I know he’s going to excel when we really need him, and that’s what makes him a world-class goalie.”
No one doubts the skill of the Rangers star, nor can they ignore what he has accomplished both internationally and in the NHL — Olympic gold in 2006, five Vezina Trophy nominations including a win in 2012. He’s hands-down the greatest Swede to ever strap on a pair of goalie pads.
The only thing missing from his illustrious resume really is a Stanley Cup – well, that and a World Cup.
“Henrik Lundqvist is such a great goalie. He’s right up there with the best if he’s not the best,” Swedish assistant coach Johan Garpenlov told Sportsnet last week.
So don’t think for a second the Swedish players or coaches have lost an ounce of confidence in Lundqvist. Still, an impressive list of achievements isn’t going to help Sweden win any games this tournament. They need Lundqvist to stop pucks at a higher rate than he has been of late in order to contend in a stacked Group B that features Russia, Finland and North America.
“All coaches, all players, all fans are trusting in Henrik and even when he lets a goal in he does not think about it,” Sweden GM Tommy Boustedt told Sportsnet prior to the start of the pre-tournament. “He is focused on the next shot. The most important thing with Henrik is he has such a winning edge. If we have any players that aren’t prepared to do everything to win, he will tell them to be prepared. It’s like the flu. It’s easy to catch the flu. It’s easy to catch his sense of always doing his best to win the game.”
When you face the reality that in any given round robin game Lundqvist will be facing shots from the likes of Alex Ovechkin, Evgeni Malkin, Vladimir Tarasenko, Aleksander Barkov, Patrik Laine, Connor McDavid and Jack Eichel, the thought of having to turn to either Jacob Markstrom or Jhonas Enroth isn’t a pleasant one for Swedish fans.
Lundqvist is the backbone of this Swedish squad. If he plays like King Henrik they’ll be gold medal contenders. If he plays like Court Jester Henrik, then the semifinals are far from a sure thing for the yellow and blue.
