Lundqvist returns, makes 35 saves in Rangers win against Red Wings

NEW YORK --Henrik Lundqvist made 35 saves in his first start after sitting for three straight games, and the New York Rangers defeated the Detroit Red Wings 5-1 at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday.

Lundqvist was the backup to Alexandar Georgiev the past three games. He has started seven games and Georgiev has started six this season.
"I knew going into this year it would be a little different, I wouldn't play as much," Lundqvist said. "For me, throughout my entire career I'm looking to get into that flow where you don't have to work as hard to prepare because you're playing so many games and you're just in it. That's going to change. I just have to work a little harder to prepare. It's new."
WATCH: [All Red Wings vs. Rangers highlights]
The Rangers (6-6-1), who have won three of their past four games, got a goal and an assist each from Tony DeAngelo, Artemi Panarin and Ryan Strome. Chris Kreider and Greg McKegg also scored, and Pavel Buchnevich had two assists.
New York was 2-for-3 on the power play and 2-for-2 with a shorthanded goal on the penalty kill.
"Penalty kill and power play is going to be the difference a lot of nights," Lundqvist said. "We know that. That's why we continue to work on it in practice and talk before games. It's such a big part of winning games and it's nice when we take care of business like that."

Valtteri Filppula scored, and Jimmy Howard made 26 saves for the Red Wings (4-12-1), who lost their fourth straight game and dropped to 1-11-1 since Oct. 12.
Detroit has been outscored 22-5 in its losing streak, including 8-1 on special teams with two shorthanded goals against, and 57-21 in the past 13 games.
"We've got to get our specialty teams figured out," Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said. "I thought our first kill was excellent and then they score with five seconds left, and it just crushed us. I thought our last kill was good. We've got to find a way to build off that last kill."
The Rangers scored three goals in a span of 4:24 in the second period to take a 3-0 lead.
DeAngelo scored a power-play goal at 4:25 to make it 1-0, putting in the rebound of Brendan Lemieux's spinning shot from the slot that went off Howard's right pad.

Kreider made it 2-0 at 6:04 with a short-side wrist shot from the right circle after playing the cross-ice pass from Buchnevich off his right skate to his stick.
Strome scored a power-play goal to make it 3-0 at 8:49 when Adam Fox's shot from the point hit off his right arm and went in.
"We lost our way in the second and gave up some stupid chances once we got down," Blashill said.
Filppula cut it to 3-1 at 9:41 of the second.

McKegg scored a shorthanded goal off his own rebound at 8:44 of the third period to make it 4-1, and Panarin scored into an empty net at 17:23 for the 5-1 final.
Lundqvist made 16 saves in the third period.
"That's Hank," Kreider said. "As long as I've been here we've had, and I think we've probably taken it for granted, elite goaltending game in and game out, year in and year out. It's a pleasure playing in front of him."

They said it

"It's frustrating. Call it what you want, it's frustrating right now. It's tough to find an answer when it's night after night. We've tried different things, different lineups. Special teams tonight. Each night it seems like a different story." -- Red Wings forward Dylan Larkin
"As you get older in your career there's a lot of adjustments you have to make. [Lundqvist] is embracing it. He understands it. I'm sure he doesn't love it. I'm sure he wants to play 65 or 70 games, and I wouldn't want a goalie who doesn't want to play 65 or 70 games. He's a smart guy and he understands the changes and adapting as you move further in your career." -- Rangers coach David Quinn

Need to know

Following the game, Detroit traded forward Jacob de la Rose to the St. Louis Blues for forward Robby Fabbri. De la Rose was scratched against the Rangers for the first time in 17 games this season. … Rangers forward Mika Zibanejad missed his fourth straight game with an upper-body injury. He won't play at the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday either. … Panarin extended his point streak to six games (three goals, five assists). … DeAngelo's five goals are the most by a Rangers defenseman through the first 13 games of the season since Brian Leetch had five in the 1988-89 season. … McKegg's goal was his first with the Rangers. … Strome has 11 points (five goals, six assists) in his past eight games.

What's next

Red Wings: Host the Boston Bruins on Friday (7:30 p.m. ET; NHLN, SNE, SNO, TVAS, FS-D, NESN, NHL.TV)
Rangers: At the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; ESPN+, FS-CR, MSG, NHL.TV)