Penguins at Rangers
Just as it appeared the sky was falling for the New York Rangers, star goaltender Henrik Lundqvist returned to the lineup from a potentially serious eye injury to restore order in Gotham. After salvaging a split on the road, Lundqvist and the Rangers look to make it two straight wins against the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins in Tuesday night's Game 3 of the first-round series.
Lundqvist, who had to leave Game 1 after taking a stick in the eye from teammate Marc Staal, made 29 saves to level the series at a game apiece while beating Pittsburgh for the eighth time in his last 10 postseason matchups. His return also shifted the focus back to issues in net for the Penguins, who have been forced to start third-stringer Jeff Zatkoff in Games 1 and 2. Starting goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury remains day-to-day with a concussion sustained on March 31 while backup Matt Murray returned to practice Monday after suffering a concussion in the regular-season finale. New York received more good news on the injury front as captain Ryan McDonagh (hand) was back at practice Monday, although coach Alain Vigneault termed him "doubtful."
TV: 7 p.m. ET; USA, Sportsnet, TVAS, ROOT (Pittsburgh), MSG (New York)
ABOUT THE PENGUINS: The goaltendending situation remains in flux for Pittsburgh, with Fleury acknowledging "it’s frustrating to not play and still be talking about it” and Murray telling reporters: “When I’m healthy, when I’m 100 percent, I’ll be ready to play in games." The Penguins had won 14 of 16 prior to Saturday's loss and one of the questions was whether the return of star center Evgeni Malkin after a five-week injury absence had a detrimental effect on the team's chemistry. Despite the devastating potential of a line featuring Malkin and captain Sidney Crosby, coach Mike Sullivan had Malkin centering rookie Conor Sheary and Eric Fehr during Monday's practice.
ABOUT THE RANGERS: Vigneault expressed surprise that McDonagh was a full participant in Monday's practice and while the coach said it was unlikely that his captain will be back in the lineup Tuesday, he hedged that by adding: "Stranger things have happened." J.T. Miller tied a franchise record with three assists -- all coming in the second period -- while Derick Brassard snapped out of his offensive funk by scoring once and setting up a pair of tallies to give him seven goals in his past 10 postseason games against the Penguins. With Dan Girardi ruled out for Game 3, New York recalled fellow defenseman Raphael Diaz from Hartford for the American Hockey League.
OVERTIME
1. Lundqvist earned his 55th playoff victory Saturday, moving past Terry Sawchuk into 15th place on the all-time list.
2. F Phil Kessel scored twice on the power play Saturday for Pittsburgh, which is 3-for-10 with the man advantage in the series.
3. Rangers D Keith Yandle ended an 18-game drought with his tally in Game 2.