Every Ranger was present and accounted for ahead of Thursday’s third-to-last game of the regular season, following a bruising matchup with the Islanders two days earlier.
The loss to their in-state rivals was hardly a concern when the Blueshirts had three different players — Chris Kreider, Ryan Lindgren and Mika Zibanejad — retreat to the locker room for brief periods of time due to injury scares throughout the game.
Zibanejad’s collision with Islanders defenseman Adam Pelech, enraged Peter Laviolette so much that the Rangers’ head coach called it “vicious” and intentional in his postgame scrum with reporters.
Not to mention the face-full of boards Vincent Trocheck got after he was shoved from behind by Noah Dobson on the shift leading to the Isles’ empty-net goal, a sequence Laviolette also denounced.
“I’ve decompressed,” Laviolette said Thursday morning at MSG Training Center, as the Rangers prepared to face the Flyers at the Garden. “I was frustrated, if I’m being honest. My frustration is that our guys were playing hard in that game, and I would have liked to see us on the power play a few times in the third period.
“We’re there to win hockey games. We’re there for the two points. That’s why my frustration came out.”
The fact that no one was seriously injured surely helped ease Laviolette.
Asked if he had a chance to look at the replay of the open-ice contact between Zibanejad and Pelech, Laviolette did not address it and said he was moving on.
Zibanejad, who said he was feeling fine and could’ve played if the game went to overtime, noted that he’d only seen one video and one angle of the incident that landed him facedown on the ice.
“I would hope that’s not intentional,” the Swedish center said. “It’s a bizarre situation. I look, I don’t see him. I don’t know if he’s stopping or whatever he’s doing. I don’t see that. I kind of take a look over to the right before and then the play is in the other end. I’m in the neutral zone. It’s one thing if I have the puck and I’m looking down, I’m just looking at the play and all of a sudden he’s there. It’s a situation you don’t want to happen. I really hope it wasn’t intentional.
“I’m not going to sit here and make accusations or whatever. I’m trying to focus on how I’m doing, how I’m feeling and that’s the only important thing right now.”
After the Islanders’ morning skate on Thursday, Pelech ensured the collision was “completely” unintentional and said he hoped Zibanejad was OK.
Dobson shared a similar sentiment when fielding questions about his hit on Trocheck, calling it a “hockey play” and assuring he wasn’t trying to hurt anyone.
Every Ranger who had an injury scare, however, was able to finish the game in some way.
Whether they saw the ice again or stayed on the bench, there wasn’t too much worry about the possibility of a serious injury.
Still, with playoffs set to begin in a little over a week, health is of the utmost importance.
“I think you put yourself in a worse position if you’re thinking about it,” Zibanejad said. “I think you don’t have to be reckless, but I think that goes for any game at any time of the year. I don’t think you can think in those ways right now. We still have a lot to play for. We have games that we want to win. We keep doing the same thing and we’ll take it from there.”
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Rangers avoid lasting damage after hard-fought Islanders matchup - New York Post
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