Rangers will get injured captain Jacob Trouba back for Florida swing
Jacob Trouba of the Rangers prepares for a game against the Sabres at Madison Square Garden on Nov. 27. Credit: Getty Images/Bruce Bennett
GREENBURGH — The Rangers got the good news they were hoping for when captain Jacob Trouba was able to practice as usual on Thursday.
Trouba left Wednesday’s 5-1 win over Washington early in the second period with what the team called an “upper-body injury.” The defenseman did not return.
“All good,” Trouba said after practice and before the Rangers headed to Florida for a back-to-back against the Panthers and Lightning beginning on Friday. “Just play it safe. Not something to mess with. Make sure you feel good in the morning and feel good skating. Everything’s good. That’s it.”
Trouba said he had a sense on Wednesday that he would be OK. He did not specify the nature of the injury.
“It’s not something to play around with,” he said. “I don’t know how much they want me to talk about it. But for me, it’s just something that if I don’t feel I can go play, if I’m worried about getting hit or something, it’s not worth me going back out there to play. So make sure things are good and feel good today.”
Trouba was injured when he was hit by Capitals forward Tom Wilson.
“I think he was just kind of cutting to the net as I was reaching,” Trouba said. “It was just kind of a hockey play, for sure.”
The Rangers have dealt with several major injuries this season and still have amassed 49 points in 33 games, which was tied with Vancouver (49 points in 35 games) for tops in the NHL going into Thursday.
The Rangers are playing without the injured Filip Chytil and Kaapo Kakko. Adam Fox missed a month with a lower-body injury. But the Rangers survived and thrived.
“Foxy was one that we kind of battled through,” Trouba said. “I thought we did a good job kind of picking up everything that we lost with him. Obviously, [Chytil] and Kaapo are major parts of the group. I think guys have come in and done a great job filling in. Jonny [Brodzinski] has played great. Those are definitely major pieces of our team that we miss. The coaches have done a good job preparing the guys to come in and, luckily, it’s been a pretty seamless transition to guys stepping up and playing big roles.”
The Florida two-step the Rangers are facing beginning on Friday against the Panthers is another good test, coach Peter Laviolette said.
“You’re talking about a team [in Florida] that made a deep run last year and you’re talking about a team [in Tampa Bay] that has made it deep for many years,” he said. “So I think there’s a challenge that goes with that, heading down there. The back-to-back part of it is a little bit of a challenge.”
Blue notes
The Rangers recalled Adam Edstrom from Hartford (AHL) to give them an extra forward for the trip. Edstrom, 23, scored a goal in his NHL debut on Dec. 15 before getting shipped back to Hartford.
Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.
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