After having a successful pre-season, Lundqvist made his Elitserien debut in the season opener on 21 September 2000 in a 2–4 loss against Brynäs IF. Lundqvist bounced back and recorded his first win in the following away game against IF Björklöven, stopping 18 shots and only allowing one goal while being short-handed. In his third straight start, Lundqvist allowed two early first period goals in a game against Timrå IK and was pulled in favour of veteran goaltender Håkan Algotsson. Lundqvist would dress for only ten more games that season and earned only one start, a shootout loss to Djurgårdens IF. Lundqvist lost his roster spot to American veteran goaltender Pat Jablonski, who joined the team in October. Tommy Boustedt, the coach of the team at the time, later said that: