How Henrik Lundqvist plans to return to elite level with Rangers

You’re going to be seeing the old Henrik Lundqvist in nets this season, and that has nothing to do with the goaltender’s March 2, 1982 birthdate.

“I’ve been reflecting this summer and over the last few days and what I come back to is that I am consistently most successful when I’m confident in my game plan and stick with it,” Lundqvist told The Post following Sunday’s practice session. “For me, it’s about getting back to my base and not changing too much because of what’s going on in front of me.”

The past few years, there have been as many “New Lundqvists” as there were “New Nixons” in the ’60s, and you could look that up, kids. At different points during each of the past three seasons, the Swede enthusiastically talked about how he had become more aggressive in challenging shooters. Why, there were stretches last year when the King looked like the second coming of Mike Richter, and that is not a reference to the time No. 35 went on IR with what was essentially battle fatigue, and you could look that up, too.

The attacking Lundqvist — there was even a scorpion save or two thrown into the mix last time around — enjoyed stretches of pronounced success. His first six weeks of 2015-16 carried the Rangers to the playoffs. A year ago, his 10-week run from the start of November through the middle of January represents some of the greatest work of his career, camouflaging the chaos in front of him until it no longer could.

But start to finish, no, Lundqvist did not attain the level of consistency the past three seasons that had previously defined his game. There were still an impressive number of high notes, but a few too many clunkers. Last year, for instance, the franchise goaltender recorded 24 starts in which he stopped at least 93 percent of the shots he faced but had 10 starts in which his save percentage was under 85 and 19 below 89.

Not good enough to be elite. Not good enough for Lundqvist.

“There were times I took one more step forward than I probably should have in trying to be aggressive, those changes weren’t natural. That took me out of my comfort zone,” said Lundqvist. “I probably tried to do too much. By doing that, I kind of lost my game plan.

“I need to play to my strengths. Looking at it over the summer and talking about it with [goaltending coach] Benny [Allaire], I’ve used this training camp to go back to my roots by being patient, playing deep in my net. It’s what I trust. It’s my game. It’s who I always was as a goalie.”

In the Year 1 of The Rebuild (or is that Year 1 ¹/₂ ?), Lundqvist will play in back of perhaps the most experienced defense corps of his career, with Marc Staal, Adam McQuaid, Kevin Shattenkirk and Brendan Smith all 29 or older. First-year NHL coach David Quinn has installed a system designed to be more protective of the previously often conceded net front and to cut through the defensive-zone chaos prevalent the past three seasons.

Still, it is going to be up to Lundqvist to seal the deal, to not so much make the spectacular save — he has and can do that — as not give up the kind of softie out of nowhere that destroys a team’s equilibrium as he has a tad too often the past few years.

To wit: Lundqvist has allowed goals on first shots of games 17 times the past two seasons and goals on the first three shots in 32 games the past two years. Some were the natural result of egregious team breakdowns out of the gate. But some weren’t.

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“We have to be ready to go at the start, and I have to be ready to make the first save no matter what the circumstance,” said Lundqvist, who will get his 13th straight Opening Day assignment Thursday at the Garden against the Predators. “I can’t tell you exactly why I’ve allowed those early goals, but if I face a big scoring chance right at the start, then I have to make that save.

“The group has to be ready, and that goes for me, too.”

Lundqvist has 431 career victories, good for eighth on the all-time NHL list. He is 23 shy of fifth on the all-time list, Curtis Joseph. He has had a strong camp and, barring injury, is likely to get between 55 and 60 starts.

“I’ve got to earn my minutes just like anyone else,” the King said. “I’m excited about the year and the challenge. I’ve worked hard on getting back to my basics and my foundation. It’s time to bring it into the season.”