Gerard Gallant expects Rangers to see Sidney Crosby play in Game 7
Sidney Crosby #87 of the Pittsburgh Penguins looks on in the first period against the Rangers during Game Five of the First Round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday, May 11, 2022. Credit: Jim McIsaac
GREENBURGH, N.Y. — Gerard Gallant decides the Rangers’ lineup, not the opponent’s. But the coach has a strong suspicion about Sidney Crosby’s potential availability for the Penguins in Game 7 of their first-round series on Sunday night at Madison Square Garden.
“We expect Sid to play,” Gallant said after the Rangers’ optional practice at the MSG Training Center on Saturday. “I don’t know what’s going to happen. I have no idea. But we expect him to play.”
Crosby missed the Rangers’ 5-3 win in Friday’s Game 6 in Pittsburgh with a suspected concussion after taking an inadvertent high hit from defenseman Jacob Trouba in the Rangers’ 5-3 win in Wednesday night’s Game 5 at the Garden.
There’s also a chance that No. 1 goalie Tristan Jarry will return to the Penguins’ net for his first game since April 14 as he recovers from a broken foot. Backup Casey DeSmith exited the Penguins’ 4-3 triple-overtime win in Game 1 at the Garden in the second overtime with a core muscle injury that required surgery.
And Louis Domingue certainly looked like a third-string goalie on Chris Kreider’s winner at 18:32 of the third period in Game 6, a slap shot from the left point that Domingue tried to knock away with his blocker but instead blooped over his head and into the net.
“It’s possible,” Gallant said. “It doesn’t matter to us who’s in net. We’re very comfortable with our net, and that’s all you’ve got to worry about. But when we have our coaching meetings, we look at that. A possibility here, a possibility there. But we spend most of our time on our team.”
Crosby has two goals and seven assists in the series, and the Rangers had a hard time containing his line with Jake Guentzel and Bryan Rust.
Crosby and Jarry participated in the Penguins’ practice on Saturday before their departure for New York. So did forward Rickard Rakell, who has not played since Game 1 because of an upper-body injury.
“We’ll take each day as it comes,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan told the media in Pittsburgh. “I’m not going to speculate at this point. They’re obviously on the ice. That’s encouraging. They’re making progress.”
Asked specifically about Crosby, Sullivan said, “He’s in good spirits. He’s in a good place. He’s doing his very best to get himself back and ready as quickly as he can. We’ll see how that process goes.”
The Penguins also have been without defenseman Brian Dumoulin (lower body) since Game 1.
Meanwhile, former Ranger Brian Boyle, the valuable fourth-liner, exited Game 6 in the first period.
“He’s being evaluated for a lower-body injury,” Sullivan said. “That’s tough because he’s a good penalty-killer for us. These games are hard. They are physical. When you go to 11 forwards that early on in the game, it places a physical burden on the rest of the group.”
Andrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John’s and MLB.
