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Rangers say they will rally around Raanta if Lundqvist can't play

Related Topics: Henrik Lundqvist, Neil Best

Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, then returned in 1985. His SportsWatch column debuted on Sept.

PITTSBURGH — Henrik Lundqvist has been the security blanket Rangers fans wrap themselves in on cold, dark nights in their dens or the Garden for 11 seasons, a certainty in an uncertain world.

So it was natural for them to shudder Wednesday night at the sight of Lundqvist sprawled face down, soon to leave Game 1 of a first-round series against the Penguins with his right eye area swollen and immediate future in question.

But imagine the view from ice level, where Lundqvist’s teammates need him even more than you do, a guy who has led the franchise to 10 playoff berths in 11 years and is the assumption on which their Stanley Cup hopes are based.