Mats Zuccarello Struck In Face By Puck, Out Indefinitely, Could Miss Stanley Cup
Mats Zuccarello is out indefinitely after he was smacked in the face by a puck during the New York Rangers’ Stanley Cup Playoff game with the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The Rangers won the first-round series 4-1, the fifth game of which was played on Friday night at Madison Square Garden. Zuccarello was forced to leave the game with just short of 4 minutes left after he was smashed in the side of the helmet by a Ryan McDonagh shot.
You can check out footage of the rather ferocious incident below.
Zuccarello didn’t return to the game, and immediately after the contest the Rangers suggested that even though he was “all right” his condition would be treated cautiously.
But on Monday it was confirmed, via the NY Daily News, that Zuccarello is now out for an indefinite period because of the potential seriousness of his injury. Mats Zuccarello missed practice in Greenburgh, White Plains, on Monday alongside defensive players Keith Yandle and Marc Staal.
New York Rangers took to Twitter to confirm the news, calling Zuccarello’s issue an “upper body injury.”
#NYR Injury Update: Mats Zuccarello is sidelined indefinitely with an upper body injury
— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) April 27, 2015
This omission is bad news for the Rangers as Zuccarello has already scored two points in five playoff games.
After the game with the Penguins, Rangers’ center Derek Stepan insisted that he is still confident they can prosper because of the depth of their roster. “We go forward,” he remarked. “We’ve got to use our depth. We’ve got to make sure that we’ve got 20 guys pulling the same rope.”
These thoughts were echoed by head coach Alain Vigneault, who after the contest on Friday insisted that the depth of the squad would be integral if Rangers were to make an impressive playoff push.
“You can’t go anywhere in this league if you don’t have depth,” Vigneault told the New York Daily News, via Yahoo. “You are going to get some players banged up now and then. You are going to need some guys to step in and play, and play important minutes and find ways to contribute. That’s just the way the NHL is. These playoffs are a battle of survival.”
The New York Rangers are still waiting to see if they’ll play either the New York Islanders or the Washington Capitals in the second round of the series. The Islanders and Capitals will play the last game of their seven game series on Monday. The second round games will start on either Wednesday or Thursday.
[Image via NY Daily News]
