Rangers at Penguins
The New York Rangers appear to have escaped a potential devastating injury as they prepare to visit the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday in Game 2 of their best-of-seven first-round series. Rangers netminder Henrik Lundqvist was forced to exit Wednesday's 5-2 loss after taking an inadvertent stick to the right eye from teammate Marc Staal.
Lundqvist, who has started 111 consecutive playoff games for New York, was hurt in the final minute of the first period, but he practiced fully on Friday and is a game-time decision. "I felt pretty good," Lundqvist said. "Saw a specialist. There's no damage to the eye, it's the swelling making it uncomfortable." The Penguins have issues of their own in net with starter Marc-Andre Fleury and backup Matt Murray each dealing with a concussion. Pittsburgh could receive a huge boost, however, as standout forward Evgeni Malkin practiced Friday for the first time since sustaining an upper-body injury on March 11.
TV: 3 p.m. ET, NBC, CBC, TVAS
ABOUT THE RANGERS: Lundqvist is expected to play as long as there are no adverse effects from Friday's practice and his importance to New York cannot be overstated - he entered the postseason winning his last four playoff starts at Pittsburgh while surrendering a total of four goals. Plus, the Rangers already have huge injury concerns among their defense corps, with captain Ryan McDonagh (hand) still sidelined and Dan Girardi ruled out after returning to the lineup for the series opener. Derek Stepan scored six times in the final nine games of the regular season and netted both goals Wednesday, prompting New York coach Alain Vigneault to tell reporters: "We need our top end players to play better. It’s time to make a difference.”
ABOUT THE PENGUINS: Third-stringer Jeff Zatkoff made 35 saves in his first start since Feb. 20 while spelling Fleury, who suffered his second concussion of the season on March 31 and said of his availability for Game 2: "I don't expect it, but I hope so. It feels like it's been forever." It has been more than month on the shelf for Malkin, who was scoring at a point-per-game pace prior to his injury and adds another lethal weapon to an already-explosive offense, particularly on the power play. "He's one of the few players in the world that can change the game single-handedly," said Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan of Malkin, who was initially expected to be sidelined for six to eight weeks. "We have more options with him in."
OVERTIME
1. Penguins captain Sidney Crosby scored once and set up two of the three goals by Patric Hornqvist in Game 1.
2. F Derick Brassard, who led the Rangers with 27 goals, is mired in an eight-game drought.
3. Malkin has 23 goals and 22 assists in 47 career games against New York.