Opening night of the Stanley Cup Playoffs had a scary moment when Henrik Lundqvist took a stick to the eye and had to leave Game 1 against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Alain Vigneault told reporters Lundqvist’s eye is swollen but added that the injury isn’t too serious. Still, New York Rangers fans are holding their collective breath as they wait to hear whether or not he’ll be good to go in Game 2 on Saturday.
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The “cats-eye cage” style of mask Lundqvist wears is popular among NHL goaltenders but by no means is it the safest design. In fact, as Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman explained, this style was outlawed in Canada.
Don Cherry feels this type of injury is easily avoidable and goalies should avoid wearing these cages.
“I’m telling you right now they better do something,” Cherry said on Coach’s Corner Thursday. “Listen, [Dominik] Hasek had a small [cage] and he did alright. Rick Wamsley had small ones like that too and the best of all was Tony O (Tony Esposito).
“I know the goalies love those big, wide cats eyes and everything but I’m telling you right now somebody’s gonna get it and it’s going to be awful bad…You gotta make them smaller!”
The Rangers recalled AHL goalie Magnus Hellberg as a precaution, the team announced Thursday. If Lundqvist is unable to play in Game 2, Antti Raanta would get the start.
