from Larry Brooks of the New York Post,

When Henrik Lundqvist signed his seven-year, $59.5 million contract extension in early December, it wasn’t just the Rangers committing their future to the franchise goaltender, it was the franchise goaltender committing his destiny to the Rangers’ organization, as well.

No goalie in NHL history had ever won his first Stanley Cup with his original team as late into his career as Lundqvist. But now, nine years a Ranger, The King will get his chance at making history. He has earned it.

He has earned it with a 1-0 shutout victory over the Canadiens at the Garden on Thursday to clinch the Eastern Conference final in a game Lundqvist said, “I don’t think I’ve ever been more determined to win.”

Nine years after Lundqvist arrived from Sweden, 20 years after the Rangers’ last trip to the final and only Stanley Cup victory since 1940, and one year to the day after firing John Tortorella as coach, the Blueshirts found a way to win the most important hockey game played in New York in two decades, since the victorious Game 7 against Vancouver on June 14, 1994, that signified the waiting was over.

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