Around the Atlantic: Bar raised for Lundqvist, NYR

Henrik Lundqvist had a pretty good 2011-12 season. He won 39 games, had eight shutouts, posted a .930 save percentage and had a goals against average of 1.97.

After falling just short of the Stanley Cup finals, the bar has been raised for the New York Rangers and Lundqvist.

And the "King" is perfectly okay with that.

“I just like the feeling to expect, to expect more out of everybody on the team,” Lundqvist told NHL.com (via ProHockeyTalk). “When I got here some years ago I think a lot of people were hoping and were not really sure, but with this year, I hope we continue building, and that’s to expect more out of everybody, to want to be a top team."

Lundqvist is the favorite to win the Vezina Trophy as the league's top goaltender for the 2011-12 campaign. He's also optimistic for the Rangers' future after making it to the Eastern Conference finals, which New York ultimately lost in six games to the New Jersey Devils.

“I can only speak for myself; it motivates me a lot to work on my game and come back, try to be even better,” Lundqvist said. “Just to get a taste of it, it’s exciting, but at the same time we didn’t reach the ultimate goal, we didn’t get to where we want to be. But to get a taste of it, I think it’s good for the future.”

The Rangers have a strong blueline and a clear-cut No. 1 goaltender. Moving forward, the team could use some help on offense during the off-season, but are clearly building a strong foundation around Lundqvist.