Henrik Lundqvist rested, then replaces Martin Biron in third period

ST. LOUIS -- Sporting an inflated 4.31 goals-against average and an .879 save percentage in one of the worst stretches of his career, Henrik Lundqvist was rested Saturday night in favor of backup Martin Biron, who made his first start of the season.

Well, Lundqvist got some rest in the first two periods, anyway. He replaced Biron to start the third and stopped 16 of 17 shots in the Rangers' 5-3 loss to the Blues.

"It wasn't enough,'' said Lundqvist, who had allowed 10 goals in his previous two games. "But for me, it was more reacting than thinking. That's what I need.''

Lundqvist, who won the Vezina Trophy in 2012 and has been a finalist five times, has examined his performance in the first four games and will stay the course in his preparation.

"I'm just going to take the next few days here to work as hard as I can," Lundqvist said after taking shots during a sparsely attended morning skate. "You do the things you have been doing for the last eight years."

Lundqvist raced to the right circle in Anaheim on Thursday night to try to poke away a puck to prevent a breakaway, a move that backfired and led to the fourth goal. He said: "Sometimes you do too much. You need to stick to your game plan . . . You want to turn it around so bad, you want to do the right thing all the time, but I don't think I'm that bad facing breakaways either, so sometimes you should stay back and not do too much."

The answer, he said, "comes down to making better decisions. There's parts of the game where I feel 'this is the way I need to play to help this team to win,' and there's parts where I just need to be better. I don't think I need to complicate it."

"The only way to get to the level where I want to be is try to work hard and think positive."

Falk finally suits up

Defenseman Justin Falk play- ed in his first game Saturday night after being a healthy scratch for the first four games. The Rangers dressed seven defensemen and sat Arron Asham. Falk played 11 shifts for a total of 5:16 and was called for two penalties.

"Nobody likes to sit, but you learn to deal with it. It's happened to me before," said Falk, who played 108 games for the Wild during the previous four seasons. "You can't beat yourself up over it. You just try to stay positive and try to stay as ready as possible."