GREENBURGH, N.Y.—For a few seconds during a 42-save shutout of the Boston Bruins last Tuesday, Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist found himself flat on his back, flopping about as if he were a freshly caught flounder in the bottom of a boat.

He had just kicked aside a slap shot by Boston defenseman Zdeno Chara, and in pursuit of the rebound, no fewer than seven players had shoehorned themselves into the goal crease. The crush of bodies knocked Lundqvist off his feet and left him facing the inside of his net as the puck glided into the slot toward Chara, who raised his stick to fire again.

What happened next stands as perhaps the signature moment of Lundqvist's season: He blocked Chara's second shot without seeing it. This wasn't dumb luck—not for Lundqvist, who's in the midst of the best season of his seven-year career and has emerged as a candidate for the Hart Trophy as the NHL's most valuable player. In fact, a detailed examination of the entire sequence illustrates how Lundqvist's physical skills and mental sharpness helped him pull off more of his hallmark magic.

Though Chara's slap shot was clocked at a league-high 108.8 mph during this year's skills competition at the All-Star Game, it was surprising neither that Lundqvist fended off the initial scoring chance nor that the mass of humanity practically swallowed him up. Unlike most goaltenders, who push themselves forward on their skates to cut down an opponent's shooting angle, Lundqvist tends to remain deep in his net. He trusts his reflexes so much that he wants an extra few milliseconds to react to any shot.

"I don't feel the need to charge out and make a block," said Lundqvist, who leads the league in shutouts (7) and is tied for the lead in save percentage (.940).