Rangers centers Ryan Strome and Filip Chytil will be game-time decisions for Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Final against the Lightning on Thursday night at Madison Square Garden, head coach Gerard Gallant said before the club traveled home Wednesday morning.
Strome participated in an optional morning skate and then taking pregame warmups ahead of the Rangers’ eventual 4-1 loss in Game 4 Tuesday night at Amalie Arena. But he was a late scratch, presumably due to the lower-body injury that he suffered two days prior in Game 3.
Strome took a cross-check to the back from the Lightning’s Ondrej Palat early in the second period of Game 3 and immediately headed to the Rangers’ locker room. He came back for a single shift, but ultimately decided he couldn’t continue and missed the remainder of the game.
“Yeah, it was real close,” Gallant said of Strome taking warmups before Game 4. “We want to make sure we’re doing the right thing. You’ve got to make the right ones and they’re tough calls for everybody. But I felt we made the right one [Tuesday] night.”
Filip Chytil sustained an upper-body injury in the second period of Game 4 after he took a hard hit into the boards from Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman.
Access the Rangers beat like never before
Join Post Sports+ for exciting member-only features, including real-time texting with Mollie Walker about the inside buzz on the Rangers.
tRY IT NOWThe loss of two key centers would be difficult to overcome for the Rangers, but luckily they’ve had a true center waiting in the wings and a couple of versatile forwards in the lineup already.
With Strome unavailable, Kevin Rooney drew back into the Rangers lineup Tuesday for the first time since Game 5 of the second round against the Hurricanes. He slotted into his usual fourth-line center spot between Tyler Motte and Ryan Reaves, while Barclay Goodrow was bumped up to the second line with Artemi Panarin and Andrew Copp.
“He played great [in Game 4] I thought,” Copp said of Rooney. “He’s a guy that’s been really valuable all year. He made a really good play on the PK … that led to a grade-A chance. We like our depth guys. Even the guys that are out of the lineup right now could come in and make an impact for sure.”
Both Copp and Goodrow can play at either wing or center, so Gallant would have flexibility if he must rearrange the Rangers’ lineup to accommodate losing Strome and Chytil.
Mika Zibanejad’s 24 points and Adam Fox’s 23 points are leading the Rangers this postseason. Zibanejad ranks third in the NHL and Fox is first among defensemen and fourth among skaters. In franchise history, the two Rangers trail just Brian Leetch and his 34 points in 1994 and Mark Messier and his 30 points in 1994 for the most points in a single postseason.