Henrik Lundqvist Questionable for Thursday
According to the NHL Network, Henrik Lundqvist is questionable for Thursday's game against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Lundqvist took a puck to his hand/wrist in the third period in the Rangers big win against the Philadelphia Flyers last night and was barely able to finish the game. All signs point to this being a minor injury, so don't panic, or go ahead and do it, it's a free country. Join me for more after the jump...
From Andrew Gross' Ranger Rants:
Lundqvist had his right forearm wrapped with ice and he admitted backup Marty Biron nearly needed to play the third period Tuesday night.
Lundqvist lost feeling in his right arm and had trouble gripping his stick after being hit by the puck as Wayne Simmonds scored on the power play with 7.0 seconds left in the second period to make it 5-2.
Lundqvist faced 14 shots in the third period, allowing just Scott Hartnell’s deflection over his glove of Andreas Lilja’s shot at 10:46.
"I was struggling all third period," Lundqvist said. "I told Martin to be ready just in case I couldn’t go. A couple of times, I was like, ‘I’m out of here.’ Luckily, they didn’t shoot any hard shots.""It will be a couple of days, that’s for sure," Lundqvist said.
Hank has been an iron man this year, playing 61 games out of the 80 the Rangers have played thus far. So long as the injury isn't a serious one, forcing Hank to rest might not be the worst thing for the Rangers with the playoffs now the focus of the team. Martin Biron's last start was against the Penguins on March 15th, he allowed five goals on thirty-two shots in a losing effort. Biron is 12-5-2 on the year with a .908 SV% and 2.38 GAA.
We all know Hank, it takes a lot to convince him to rest and sit, hopefully this is a blessing in disguise with much more important games to play after the Rangers put the last two regulation games in the rearview mirror.
We will update this article if any other news surfaces about Hank's injury. All signs point to it being a minor injury. It looks all but certain that he will be out for Thursday's game and will be watching the game from the bench.
To see Hank's postgame comments about his hand go to 2:40 of this video.
So what do you guys think, maybe a blessing in disguise?