Bobby Bevilacqua

Photo courtesy of MSG Photos.

The Rangers practiced today ahead of Game 2 against the Penguins tomorrow, and Henrik Lundqvist was back on the ice in full gear, practicing with the rest of the team. Dan Girardi was absent, and it was revealed by Alain Vigneault that he would not play tomorrow due to an injury.

The Rangers recalled goaltender Magnus Hellberg from Hartford yesterday just in case they got bad news about Lundqvist. But after seeing a specialist, there is no real damage to his eye, and the concern is about the swelling around his eye (per John Shannon). Lundqvist said his vision was blurry after the incident, but got better as the night went on. Andrew Gross of The Record said that Lundqvist looked sharp in practice.

Henrik Lundqvist will be a game time decision.

In other news, Dan Girardi was absent from practice today, and will NOT play tomorrow due to an undisclosed injury. People have speculated that he’s been dealing with an injury all season long, which would explain why he’s lost a step.

At practice, the defense pairs looked like this;

Marc Staal-Kevin Klein

Keith Yandle-Dylan McIlrath

Brady Skjei-Dan Boyle

Despite Girardi definitely being out, Alain Vigneault would not confirm that Dylan McIlrath would take his spot, even though the Rangers only have six healthy defenseman. That could mean that the team recalls Raphael Diaz to go with a better puck mover on the blue line. Personally, I would prefer Dylan McIlrath, because he’s earned a chance at playing big minutes, and the pairing of Yandle and McIlrath has worked tremendously well this season.

I never want anyone to be injured, but Girardi needed to take a seat anyway. He played poor, Marc Staal and him don’t play well together at all, and he can’t keep up with Crosby, Hagelin, Kessel and Hornqvist.

On the Penguins’ side, Marc-Andre Fleury and Evgeni Malkin both practiced today, but were non-committal to playing tomorrow afternoon. Malkin called himself a “game-time decision,” and Fleury said, “I don’t know if I expect to play, but I’d love to. Feels like it’s been forever.” (per Frank Seravelli)