PITTSBURGH – The King returns.
Henrik Lundqvist will be in goal for the New York Rangers when they face the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 2 of their series on Saturday afternoon.
His status was uncertain after he took a stick to the right eye during the series opener on Wednesday night and gave way to backup Antti Raanta for the final two periods. The Penguins wound up winning the game 5-2.
Lundqvist’s return should be a huge boost for the Rangers.
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“He’s good to go,” said coach Alain Vigneault.
His injury wound up being an extremely close call, one that left Lundqvist having “some really bad thoughts going through my head.”
Rangers defenceman Marc Staal was battling Oskar Sundqvist in front of the goal when his stick blade caught Lundqvist through the “Cat Eye” cage on his mask. The 34-year-old consulted with an eye specialist in Pittsburgh on Thursday and was told there was no damage beyond some swelling.
That opened the door for him to make his 112th consecutive playoff start for the Rangers.
“He went through practice (on Friday), came to our meetings last night and talked to our doctors, got up this morning and everybody agreed there was no issues and that he was good to go,” said Vigneault.
The only lineup change for New York will be inserting defenceman Dylan McIlrath in place of the injured Dan Girardi.
It’s still unclear whether the Penguins will play goalie Marc-Andre Fleury (concussion) or centre Evgeni Malkin (shoulder) in Game 2. Head coach Mike Sullivan met reporters two hours before puck drop, but said both remained a “game-time” decision.
If Fleury can’t go, the Penguins will again start No. 3 man Jeff Zatkoff, who made 35 saves while winning his playoff debut on Wednesday.
