Henrik Lundqvist rest suddenly a major Rangers’ concern

Playing it day by day with the goaltending situation had been easy for rookie Rangers coach David Quinn. All he pretty much had to do was run Henrik Lundqvist out there and watch him keep the team in games, if not downright win them himself.

Well, no more.

Quinn learned a hard lesson Wednesday night in the Garden, when he sent Lundqvist out for his third straight start and his 30th in the opening 39 games of the season. The 36-year-old Lundqvist called it “probably my worst game” and was pulled 4:40 into the third period after allowing six goals on 18 shots in a game the Rangers lost to the Penguins, 7-2.

Quinn hopped on the sword after, saying that playing Lundqvist “was a huge mistake on my part.” Now, Quinn has to figure out how to manage this situation better as travel picks up in tandem with a difficult schedule.

After stating the obvious Thursday — backup Alex Georgiev will start Friday night against the Avalanche in the first game of a three-game trip — Quinn was asked if he thinks he needs to change how he evaluates his goaltending situation.

“A little bit, not a lot,” he said after a short pre-flight practice in Westchester. “It bothers me more that I didn’t pull him earlier. That’s the thing that, looking back, I regret. But it’s so over with. We’re moving forward. I know it’s a good topic, but, really, we lost 7-2. So …”

Lundqvist stopped himself Thursday before admitting he was actually tired, a fact he did not try to hide in St. Louis on Monday night. That’s when he made 39 grueling saves to follow a 37-save performance in Nashville on Saturday night. Both of those were wins, and it got the Rangers feeling pretty good about themselves heading into 2019. No one could have felt better about his game than Lundqvist.

But then the Penguins came to town and did what they often do to Lundqvist who is winless in the previous eight regular-season games against Sidney Crosby and Co. And the weariness Lundqvist felt, both mental and physical, could not be hidden by a victorious smile.

“It’s hard. Sometimes you can [start] 10, 15 straight and not feel tired. And then you play a couple games that are so intense and emotional, it takes a toll on you,” he said Thursday, with his sights set to get back in nets for the second leg of the trip, against the Coyotes on Saturday afternoon. “But again, I get an opportunity to work in practice for a couple days and get ready for Phoenix. That’s a good thing for me.

“I was a little tired [Wednesday], but if you only played when you were 100 percent perfect, you would not play a lot of games in this league. You have to find ways to find that energy, find that focus. But some nights it’s just going to be a little harder. I think that’s the toughest challenge in this league when you play every second night, to be on top of your game because of that mental and physical aspect of the game.”

Lundqvist said he had a “quick conversation” with Quinn after the game, but he wasn’t allowing his coach to take all the blame.

“In the end, it’s on me. I’m playing,” Lundqvist said. “I appreciate the support, but it comes down to my execution. You’re not going to feel perfect every night, you just need to find a way.”

Now, Quinn needs to find a way to decide when he should play Lundqvist and when he should play Georgiev. Previously, he had cited speaking often with goaltending coach Benoit Allaire, which surely will continue. But as the dog days of winter roll on, Quinn knows he has to be more mindful of Lundqvist’s well-being — and Wednesday night might stand as a turning point.

“You don’t want to overthink it. It happens,” Lundqvist said. “A lot of games coming up, and one extra day here and there makes a big difference sometimes.”