Lundqvist practising today for Rangers, Game 2 status looks promising

Should the wound not balloon overnight, there is a realistic chance that Lundqvist will be back between the pipes for Saturday afternoon’s Game 2, a game the Rangers need to win in order to tie the series 1-1 heading back to NY for Monday’s Game 3.

Lundqvist left Game 1 on Wednesday night after he was struck near the eye area by the blade of teammate Marc Staal’s stick.

Lundqvist played the remainder of the first period, allowed a goal to Patric Hornqvist, and was replaced by Antti Raanta for the start of the second period. A visit to a specialist on Thursday confirmed that there was no structural damage to his eye and Lundqvist was able to return to practice a day later, putting him in position to start Game 2 against Pittsburgh on Saturday afternoon. NY will be looking to even up the series at one while Pittsburgh will be looking to take a two game lead in the series.

The Penguins, meanwhile, will get Evgeni Malkin back for Game 2 of the best-of-seven series, his first game since March 11. That night, it improved a lot; the way the stick hit me, I feel lucky. “It’s more the swelling around the eye that affects it, but I’m very pleased with the way it felt”, Lundqvist said. Stepan was in between Chris Kreider and Nash during Friday’s practice and Brassard centered J.T. Miller and Zuccarello.

Vigneault, with another gem of a quote, said, “You’re not going to stop Crosby”. Both players were listed as game-time decisions by Penguins coach Mike Sullivan. “We’ll see”, Fleury said Friday after practice.

Nash said there was frustration that the Rangers couldn’t take advantage of Zatkoff early and made too many errors defensively. “I thought we were ready to go, but you have to be ready to out-battle them”.

The good news for the Rangers is that reinforcements – Lundqvist, more specifically – will be riding back into the picture ahead of game two.

Even if Lundqvist plays, it may not be enough. Adding Malkin will increase their greatness, not hinder it. Malkin’s return will also have a major impact on the Penguins power play, which was absolutely atrocious in Game 1. “Accidents happen. Injuries happen”.

“I believe our team plays well in front of both our goaltenders”, Rangers coach Alain Vigneault said ahead of Game 2, “but there is a definite bonus in the fact that Hank has won so many big games for this team and this organization”. He had a hat trick and the Penguins beat the New York Rangers 5-2.

“It was nice to get that first [action] in playoff hockey for me in the NHL, to see that it’s not that different to play playoffs than to play these guys in the regular season”, Raanta said.

Vigneault scratched veteran Dan Girardi with an unspecified injury and is tabbing rookie defenseman Dylan McIlrath for his National Hockey League post-season debut with Keith Yandle.