Remember that optimism about Henrik Lundqvist at least avoiding an injury before giving up that 1-0 goal?
Those positive thoughts might have been hasty. Antti Raanta came out to start in the New York Rangers net instead of Lundqvist to begin the second period against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The Marc Staal stick-to-Lundqvist’s-face incident happened late in the first period, so it may have come after some assessment that Hank wasn’t quite right.
So, we’ll maybe have an idea regarding how long this will be a “Battle of the Backups.” Stay tuned.
Update: Lundqvist is considered day-to-day. Perhaps Game 2 being on Saturday will constitute enough “days” for Hank to heal up?
Vigneault said Lundqvist is "day to day" after taking the stick up near his eye.
— Tom Gulitti (@TomGulittiNHL) April 14, 2016
AV: Henrik will be evaluated tomorrow. Day-to-day.
— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) April 14, 2016