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Silverman: With Henrik Set To Return, Rangers Begin Final Preparations For Cup Run

By Steve Silverman
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The King returns to claim his throne once again.

The New York Rangers certainly did a lot more than survive with Henrik Lundqvist out for seven weeks with a sprained blood vessel in his neck. Cam Talbot showed that he was the best backup goalie in the league as the Rangers moved to the top of the Eastern Conference. And now they've given themselves an excellent chance to win the Presidents' Trophy.

They have a narrow one-point lead over the Montreal Canadiens and are tied with the Anaheim Ducks for the overall league lead, but they have played two fewer games than the Habs and three fewer than the Ducks.

The regular-season title is there for the taking. Well done to all, especially you, Mr. Talbot.

But nobody in their right mind thinks the Rangers will win the Stanley Cup this season if Lundqvist is not in top form. Talbot is good enough to win some tough, grinding games in February and March, but when it's all or nothing in April and May, they need Lundqvist to be between the pipes -- and they need him at his best.

That's why Lundqvist is fairly certain to be in goal on Saturday afternoon when the Rangers go to Boston and face the struggling Bruins.

At the start of the year, most of the cognoscenti figured that Boston and Pittsburgh would be at the top of the Eastern Conference, with the Rangers and Habs giving chase.

The Bruins have been plagued by inconsistency all year, as their once-formidable team has been slowed by age, injuries and poor decision-making by the front office. Questionable trades of Tyler Seguin and Johnny Boychuk have come back to hurt them badly, and former Norris Trophy winner Zdeno Chara has slowed dramatically.

As a result, the Bruins are in a fight for their lives to make the playoffs, and their season may end in a couple of weeks.

They are probably the perfect opponent for Lundqvist to make his comeback attempt against. The Rangers are all about speed, and it should be easy for a jet like Chris Kreider to get outside the slowish Boston defense and get a boatload of chances against Tuukka Rask.

If the Rangers can get an early lead in this game it should be easy, because the Bruins have become predictable. They are offensively challenged and rarely score more than two goals per game.

Most of the shots come from the outside, as the Bruins just don't go to the front of the net and establish their presence the way they once did.

Some Rangers fans may still be dubious about the Bruins because they remember the playoff series in 2013 that saw Boston eliminate the Blueshirts in five games. Torey Krug scored goals in four of the five games against Lundqvist and the Rangers, and it was truly a runaway.

Krug is still a concern, and so are Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand. The rest of the Bruins are troubled and mistake-prone.

Alain Vigneault must give Lundqvist a chance to regain his top form by the time the playoffs start. With nine games remaining, Vigneault must be smart about the way he deploys Lundqvist. He needs to play at least five of those games, and if the goalie can show his top form in four of them, the Rangers should be prepared for the challenges of the postseason.

Marty St. Louis should return from his knee injury shortly, and when he's in the lineup the Rangers have a sudden quality to their game that makes them even more dangerous.

Dan Girardi may have taken a nasty cut on his arm when he blocked a shot against Ottawa Thursday night, but he's playing at a superior level. He is the anchor to the Rangers' mobile and effective defensive core.

All systems are go for New York for a postseason run to remember. They face a key step on Saturday afternoon when the King returns to the lineup, and have an opportunity to make a significant statement about the team's immediate future.

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