As the New York Rangers get set to take on the Pittsburgh
Penguins this afternoon all eyes were on whether star goaltender Henrik
Lundqvist would be in net following his collision with Benoit Pouliot late in
Friday’s third period against Montreal. The
good news is that Lundqvist has apparently recovered sufficiently from his
stiff neck to play today.
The bad and surprising news according to Jesse Spector
is that Marc Staal will be out of the lineup with a “body injury.” There were no details on the severity of the
injury, timetable for return or obviously the location of the injury. The reason for the secrecy according to coach
John Tortorella is because with the playoffs approaching he does not want
opponents to
target whatever injured area when he returns to the lineup.
With Staal out Steve Eminger moves up to play with Dan
Girardi while Matt Gilroy gets back into the lineup. The fact that Tortorella did not split of
McDonagh and Sauer with this injury is a testimony to how well those two
rookies have played both individually and collectively.
