Rangers' Henrik Lundqvist returns to practice, nearly game ready
Swedish goalie Henrik Lundqvist practiced with his New York Rangers teammates on Tuesday for the first time since he was forced from the lineup by a neck injury in February, and could be back in goal by this weekend.
Lundqvist took the Madison Square Garden ice several hours before the NHL-leading Rangers hosted the Stanley Cup champion Los Angeles Kings in a rematch of last year's finals. He faced all kinds of shots from teammates, who were pleased to have their No. 1 goalie back after he got hit in the neck with a puck on Jan. 31.
"I feel like I am pretty close," the 33-year-old Lundqvist said after being on the ice for about an hour. "I just wanted to work really hard and get extremely tired, so that was accomplished. It was just fun."
Cam Talbot started in the 4-2 loss late Tuesday, and New York coach Alain Vigneault doubted Lundqvist would be in the lineup on Thursday at Ottawa.
Lundqvist's aim is to play this weekend when the Rangers have back-to-back games -- at Boston on Saturday and at home against Washington on Sunday.
"I need at least one more or two more skates just to work on my timing," he said. "I feel close. If you asked me, I wanted to play last week right away when they cleared me. But you have to be realistic about it, too."
Lundqvist was hit in the neck by a shot by Carolina's Brad Malone. He finished the game and played again on Feb. 2. Further tests revealed the severity of the injury, which included the risk of a stroke, and he's been out of action since then.
Lundqvist was expected to join a full practice last Friday, but he missed it because of the birth of his second child.
Lundqvist said jokingly that he thinks a few of his teammates were afraid to shoot pucks high on him on Tuesday, but top forward Rick Nash said he thought Lundqvist looked the same.
"We were shooting it like it was any other game-day skate," Nash said. "He is cleared for practice, so I don't think he would want us to take it easy on him. He looked like he didn't miss a beat when I was shooting on him.
"He's our leader, he's our best player. It's tough to miss a guy like that, so it was exciting to have him back."
The Rangers' career wins and shutouts leader was 16-4 with a 1.82 goals-against average and one shutout in 20 games before the injury. Overall this season, he is 25-11-3 with a 2.25 goals-against average and five shutouts.
New York has gone 17-3-4 without Lundqvist in the lineup. Talbot has played all but two games in that span. Rookie goalie Mackenzie Skapski won those two at Buffalo.
