Shorthanded Rangers to start three centers against Thrashers
Photo credit: Getty Images | Brandon Dubinsky #17 of the New York Rangers skates against the New York Islanders at the Nassau Coliseum. (October 28, 2009)
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GREENBURGH, N.Y. - In their first home game Thursday night after a weeklong road trip, the shorthanded Rangers will use three centers - not the usual four - against the Thrashers.
With centers Chris Drury (concussion) and Brandon Dubinsky (broken right hand) sidelined, coach John Tortorella determined there were enough NHL-caliber players here and told management that call-ups from the Hartford Wolf Pack weren't necessary. How long that remains the case is unclear.
"I told Jimmy [Schoenfeld, assistant GM] and [GM] Glen [Sather] that we have NHL bodies and I'd rather keep it with this group right now," Tortorella said after practice. "Sometimes this is where you find out about some people."
On Saturday Drury was felled by a shoulder check from Calgary's Curtis Glencross 49 seconds into the game. Glencross was suspended for three games.
"I don't foresee him Thursday or Saturday [in Ottawa] by any means. Head injuries are so tough. Sometimes you feel well and sometimes they come back and haunt you," Tortorella said of Drury, who rode the bike on Monday, but "came to the rink today and wasn't great. We want to try to keep him away from the rink and let him get himself situated. I think he gets frustrated and I don't think that's helping him right now."
Dubinsky, with his right hand in a cast and expected to be out from three to six weeks, said he immediately knew his block of a slap shot from Calgary's Jay Bouwmeester on the penalty-kill caused damage. "I put my stick in my left hand because I couldn't hold onto it," he said. "Basically, it blew my hand up. It was a compression cut, so I was bleeding pretty badly . . . We like to take away the cross-ice passes, but you're a little farther away [from the point men]. There's nothing different you could do, just one of those things gets you in the right spot."
Notes & quotes: G Henrik Lundqvist, a late scratch Saturday to rest a nagging groin / thigh injury, practiced. "It's feeling better," he said and he'll likely will return Thursday night after an eight-day layoff . . . Enver Lisin, wearing a plastic guard on his left boot to protect a cracked bone, skated on the No. 1 line with C Vinny Prospal and Marian Gaborik. Third-line C Artem Anisimov was moved to the second line; fourth-line pivot Brian Boyle skated on the third unit.
