How Henrik Lundqvist will be paying tribute to Mike Richter

Henrik Lundqvist coveted the Statue of Liberty.

“When I came over for my first training camp [in 2005], I wanted to have the Statue of Liberty on the crown of my mask,” the Rangers goaltender said. “Back home [in Sweden], playing for Frolunda [Indians], I had their insignia of the Indian headdress on my crown, so I wanted to keep that look.

“But then the first week I was here, Cas told me that the Statue of Liberty was [Mike] Richter’s trademark and I would have to change. And he says, ‘Oh, by the way, No. 35 is gone, too.’ ”

That was a reference to Acasio Marques, the equipment manager fondly known as “Cas,” the same fellow who on Thursday tended to the Richter-inspired Statue of Liberty mask Lundqvist wore in practice and will wear in Friday’s Garden match against the Hurricanes following 25th anniversary ceremonies in honor of the 1994 Stanley Cup-winning Rangers.

“It’s such an iconic look. I see it here a lot, it’s on display here somewhere,” said Lundqvist, who will auction off the mask for charity after its intended one-and-only use. “When I heard about these ceremonies, I asked my designer, Dave [Art], to come up with something that would honor Mike and that team and would have that look. And the Statue of Liberty.

“It celebrates not only Mike, but the team. I love it.”

One half of the mask is essentially the Richter design, with a picture of the Cup-winning goaltender and the year “1994” painted on the shell. The other side is Lundqvist’s current design. There is the Statue on top and Lundqvist’s crown logo at the bottom. It serves as an homage to a champion.

“When I came over here for the first time after I was drafted and went to a game, Mike wasn’t playing so I was able to meet him in the lounge and talk with him,” Lundqvist said. “Right away I could tell he was a very classy and humble man. I was just standing there with big eyes trying to take it all in. That’s a great memory.”

Lundqvist was a 12-year-old living in Sweden when Richter and the Rangers won the Cup. He said he remembers them winning and thinks he recalls highlights of the parade. He has seen Richter’s signature penalty shot save against Pavel Bure in Game 4 of the finals and knows that it was a duplicate of the save No. 35 made against Bure on a breakaway in the 1994 All-Star Game at the Garden four-plus months earlier.

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“It was the same,” Lundqvist said, marveling. “Unbelievable.”

Lundqvist is in his 14th season as a Ranger. He did not need nearly that long to appreciate the significance of 1994.

“If you’ve been here a year or two, you are aware of how important that year is to the organization,” he said. “It’s great to see the highlights, and it’s been great to get to know these guys over the years and get a better understanding of who they were as a team.

“There were four or five All-Stars on their team? They were a great team, no doubt about it. I look forward to seeing them at the Garden.”
Coach David Quinn remembers 1994, too.

“I was coaching at Northeastern at the time, and a Bruins fan,” he said. “But for me, it was personal a little bit because of Leetchie [Brian Leetch] and Mike Richter — guys that I played with and knew — so I was certainly rooting for them.

“But I was rooting for the Rangers because it was good for hockey. When the Rangers are good, it’s good for hockey.”

That’s an observation that will go over well in the Commonwealth.

Quinn said he has not decided whether Neal Pionk, a scratch for Wednesday’s 4-3 shootout victory over the Bruins, will be reinserted into the lineup.