After Pair Of Near Misses, Rangers' Lundqvist Says Time Is Now To Win Stanley Cup

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Henrik Lundqvist is not old by NHL goalie standards. At soon-to-be 34 his best hockey can still be in front of him.

But the Rangers as a whole? We're going to find out.

In today's tight salary cap world it becomes increasingly difficult to add significant pieces to a winning organization, which is why the Blueshirts have a similar look to last season's team heading into training camp.

Yet off an agonizing Game 7 loss in the Eastern Conference finals, one year after a five-game defeat in the Stanley Cup Final, Lundqvist said the Rangers can't have any excuses or harp on the failures of the past.

"Maybe the difference now, and maybe (over) the past three to four years, I feel like when you get there, you have different expectations on our team that maybe we didn't have my first four or five years," Lundqvist told reporters Monday following an informal skate at the Rangers' practice facility in Greenburgh, New York. "We were always hoping to be a contender, now we all expect to be up there. That being said, it's still a lot of work to get to that point. I think it's good though, to put a lot of pressure on yourself and the group — you want to be up there."

The Rangers are more or less the same team that was knocked out by the Tampa Bay Lightning last spring, save for some changing of the guard. Longtime general manager Glen Sather stepped down and was replaced by assistant Jeff Gorton. Future Hall of Famer Martin St. Louis retired, but he was far removed from his best days last season.

The cap gave the Rangers problems, but Gorton weathered the storm well, somehow re-signing top forward Derek Stepan to a long-term deal after trading Carl Hagelin to Anaheim for promising forward Emerson Etem. Gorton also solidified the club's bottom six forwards, back end pairing defensemen and got a new backup goalie, not to mention adding draft picks and prospects to the organizational talent pool.

Lundqvist said he doesn't expect any drop off from the 2015-16 Rangers, who open the season on Oct. 7 at defending Cup champion Chicago.

"You feel that walking in here — the expectations are higher now," Lundqvist said. "I like that. It's a good thing.

"Now is the time to maybe look at the big picture here and see, OK, this is what we want to do — maybe you see yourself do it," he added. "But then you break it down and start focusing on just getting a good start."

Lundqvist, who put up a solid 2.25 goals-against average and .922 save percentage last season despite missing more than 20 games due to a neck injury, said he took time to go over what went wrong in the conference finals, but is now ready to move forward.

"You relive the different game situations, and you analyze it, and you get upset and frustrated," Lundqvist said. "But you also appreciate the good moments that you had. Then you come to a point where, 'OK, I can't walk around and think about this any more.' And you move on.

"You still think about it, but you accept that it's over."

The veteran netminder said focusing on the past is something this group of players simply doesn't do.

"It would be a waste to just walk around and think about the last game and the loss, because there were a lot of good moments leading up to that," Lundqvist said. "We have stuff in the bag now that will help you, as a player, as a person, especially moving forward in certain situations under pressure."