In Which I Dethrone King Henrik

I missed last night's game against the Rangers, and only saw a few tweets about the game so I didn't know much about what went on. Basically all I knew was that the Habs won and that Henrik Lundqvist got booed. Not much of a surprise there, right? The Canadiens are perfectly capable of winning a game against the Rangers, and Montreal fans love booing goalies. (There was no such treatment of Marc-André Fleury this week, and that's a mystery I'll need help solving.)

Clearly, I didn't know what had gone down. (No pun intended.)


This isn't something I normally would have admitted to, but for some reason I sorta liked Lundqvist. He's a pretty good goaltender, and on many occasions I've found myself biting my tongue when I see his highlights. I wouldn't have wanted anyone to know that I'd probably admit to actually liking him as a goalie if he didn't play for the Rangers, one of the teams I hate the most.
Two years ago, I put him on my All-Star ballot a few times just because I wanted to be able to see him play without having to see the rest of his team on the ice. Best of both worlds, right?
When I saw the Rangers play the Tampa Bay Lightning on New Year's Day, I thanked the hockey gods that Cédrick Desjardins was in net for Tampa. It wouldn't have made sense if the team I was booing was backed up by a goalie I liked, and the team I wanted to win had Dan Ellis in net. (In case you didn't know, I'm not a fan of Dan Ellis. Some people say I was one of the people who scared him off Twitter, but that's not really true.)
It wasn't even because at first I wasn't sure if you pronounce the letter V in his name or not, which would have made it hard to boo him.

So, I guess I should thank Lundqvist for proving he's completely batshit insane. Max Pacioretty crashed into him, yes. Did he do it on purpose? Didn't look that way to me. Sure, no one wants another player to wipe out in front of them, but I'm sure this same thing has happened - many times - to every goalie in the NHL. Usually, though, the goalie doesn't pick himself back up and go after the guy who wiped out. People went to the Bell Centre for a hockey game last night, and a bear attack broke out. I can understand that being a goalie is mentally difficult and you don't want anyone to mess with you or what you're doing. The only excuse Lundqvist could have had is that Pacioretty's skate blade came a little too close for comfort, especially if it reached his calf, but no one's said anything about that happening. So as of right now, it appears that either Pacioretty is an awful human being or Lundqvist is crazy and maybe can't control his anger. I think the latter is more likely.

Boo all you want, Habs fans. I'll join in. Henrik Lundqvist is dead to me.