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Rangers' Lundqvist: 'I definitely think we have as good of a team as last year'

Adam Hunger / USA TODAY Sports

New York Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist still believes his team can take the next step.

The Rangers captured the Presidents' Trophy with the league's best record last season, and though the team has said farewell to players such as Martin St. Louis, Carl Hagelin, and Cam Talbot, Lundqvist feels they haven't lost a step.

"I definitely think we have as good of a team as last year, but it’s up to us to prove it obviously," he told Pat Leonard of the New York Daily News. "Changes will always happen for different reasons, but I like the fact that the core is still here. It’s a group that’s been playing together for a lot of years. We’ve been through the ups and downs, we know what to expect from each other, I think that’s going to help us again this year."

The Rangers reached the Eastern Conference Final last season before bowing out to the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 7. And after also falling to the Los Angeles Kings in the Stanley Cup Final in 2014, Lundqvist believes it's about time the club reached the next level.

"We’re close,” said Lundqvist. "We’re really close. We just need to take that final step. I think it feeds motivation - being close. You know you’re doing good things, doing the right things. You just need to make sure as a group and personally you take that final step."

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