The NY Rangers and Philadelphia Flyers head to the city of brotherly love on Tuesday in Game 3 of the series tied up at 1-1. The Rangers are said to have the edge in goal, as they possess arguably the best goalie in the world in Henrik Lundqvist. However, the team needs to avoid a lengthy series if they hope to get the most out of their franchise star.

The Rangers has become acquainted with lengthy series over the years and many believe that they have been the cause of the team's inability to make a deep run and contend for the cup. A year ago, Lundqvist played in 43 of 48 regular season games before the Rangers played the Washington Capitals in seven games and were then demolished by the Boston Bruins in five. Despite solid statistics throughout the two series, Lundqvist looked exhausted during the latter series and was a major reason why New York faltered against the big bad B's. A year earlier, the Rangers were the Presidents trophy winners and were a sure bet for a deep run to the finals. The team, however, struggled in the first round against the Ottawa Senator and topped them in seven. In the following round, New York had to defeat Washington in seven before losing to New Jersey in six in the Eastern Conference finals. Once again, fatigue played a crucial factor. In the opening round against Ottawa Lundqvist's save percentage remained above 90 percent in all seven games; his lowest was a 90.3 save percentage in game 4. Against Washington, his save percentage dipped below 90 percent on three different occasions, while against the Devils he posted two shut outs but never managed to stop over 90 percent of the shots in the remaining four games. In Game 5 of that series he conceded four goals on 16 shots in a 5-3 loss. That run came after Lundqvist had played 62 regular season games.

In 2008-09, he played 70 regular season games and helped the Rangers to a seven game series against the Washington Capitals. The Capitals were the President trophy winners and were seen as the runaway favorites, but for the first four games, Lundqvist shut them down with a solid performance. He won three of the first four games and his worst performance in that stretch came in Game 3 when he faced 40 shots and stopped 36 of them; that scoreline could have easily been worse if not for his heroic performance. Also worthy of note is that Lundqvist stopped 32 or more shots in those first four games. However the final three games of that series pain a radically different picture. He faced 14 in Game 5 and gave up four goals. In Game 6 he stopped 15 of 20 and in the final game, a 2-1 loss in Washington, he gave up two goals on 22 shots. When compared with his heroics earlier in the series, it is clear that the keeper was not up at his peak as the series dragged on.

This season he has played 63 games. He looked sharp in a rather "easy" game 1 (he only faced 15 shots) but struggled at home in the second game by conceding three goals on 24 shots. The Flyers are physical and will wear him down if the series extends too long. The Rangers cannot allow this to happen.