What were the odds the blunt edge of a teammate's stick would fit through Henrik Lundqvist's well-fortified mask and cause an eye injury that forced him out of a playoff game? Probably the same percentage the New York Rangers have of winning their first-round NHL playoff series against the Pittsburgh Penguins if they have to keep playing without their No. 1 goalie.
The Rangers' biggest advantage over the Penguins, in their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series, was wiped out with 48.2 seconds remaining in the first period Wednesday night in Game 1 at Consol Energy Center. Lundqvist's teammate, Marc Staal, battling in front of the net with Pittsburgh's Oskar Sundqvist, accidentally wedged the end of his stick between two of the metal bars in Lundqvist's mask and injured his right eye.
A game that was scoreless to that point—perhaps a moral victory of sorts for the Rangers in a road playoff game—ended in a 5-2 final, with backup Antti Raanta no match for a Penguins club that came into the series as the hottest in the league down the stretch of the regular season.
Rangers coach Alain Vigneault told N ...
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Article written by Adrian Dater
NHL Playoffs Roundup: Henrik Lundqvist Injury Signals Big Trouble for Rangers
April 13th, 2016 by Adrian Dater Leave a reply »
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