So the question becomes, will one morning skate and one full practice constitute enough work for Henrik Lundqvist to make his return to the Rangers’ net either Saturday afternoon in Boston or Sunday afternoon at the Garden against the Capitals?
Lundqvist, sidelined since Feb. 2, took a full range of shots Sunday morning working with goaltending coach Benoit Allaire, just as he had done Saturday morning while the Blueshirts were in Raleigh, N.C.
The Rangers, off on Monday following Sunday’s 7-2 victory over the Ducks, will have a full skate Tuesday morning in advance of that night’s match against the defending Stanley Cup champion Kings (ouch), who are in danger of missing the playoffs.
That will represent Lundqvist’s first work with his teammates since being medically cleared last Wednesday to return from the vascular injury he suffered on Jan. 31. The Blueshirts will conduct a full practice on Wednesday before flying to Ottawa in advance of their match against the Senators on Thursday.
The team will not have ice on Friday, when they are scheduled to travel from Ottawa to Boston in advance of their match against the B’s. After the weekend, the Blueshirts have games in Winnipeg on Mar. 31 and in Minnesota on Apr. 2.
It is extremely unlikely the Rangers will practice following the back-to-back afternoon games before traveling to Winnipeg on the 30th.
Lundqvist, who had been scheduled to practice last Friday but instead was at his wife’s side for the birth of their second child that night, said last week he of course was anxious to return but “[did] not want to rush back.
“I’m not going to force it,” he said on Wednesday. “It’s not about me. It’s about what’s best for the team. I want to make sure when I go out there, I feel ready and I can make a difference and help the team.”
The Rangers have climbed to the top of the NHL overall standings in Lundqvist’s absence, going 20-2-3 in the 25 games for which he has been sidelined.
The Rangers, who had been 1-for-22 on the power play in their previous nine games and 3-for-47 over their previous 17, scored on their first man-advantage against the Ducks, finishing 1-for-2.
Over the previous eight games consisting of 491:31, the matches had been within one goal for all but 4:34. Sunday, the Rangers played a sum of 38:18 with a multiple-goal lead. … The Blueshirts haven’t been behind by two goals since their 4-2 defeat in Philadelphia on Feb. 28 in which the Flyers scored at empty-netter to clinch it at 19:59 of the third period.
Martin St. Louis, who suffered a right knee sprain in the final minutes of the March 15 game against the Panthers, has not yet begun to skate. The winger was originally projected to miss up to two weeks.