Jesper Fast did not rush back from his offseason hip surgery just because he saw his Rangers get out to such a difficult start. But the integral winger said he was fully ready for his return, which came ahead of schedule in the team’s 3-2 loss to the Devils on Saturday night, dropping the Rangers to 1-5-0 on the season.
“Of course you want to help the team, but I felt good the last two weeks, just needed to get back to 100 percent to play games,” Fast said after Monday’s practice, when he was on the right wing of a new line with Jimmy Vesey and Kevin Hayes as the team prepared to play the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Penguins on Tuesday night at the Garden. “That was the decision we made.”
Fast was supposed to return in late October, with a timeline of five-to-six months following the June 5 surgery on his left hip. But he said that at some point he “pulled ahead” of that schedule. He went through his on- and off-ice testing with terrific results Wednesday, and returned to game action not too different from his normal self.
“For a guy that hadn’t had an exhibition game and a real practice, there’s a typical hard-working player that you know what your’e going to get,” coach Alain Vigneault said. “You’re going to get an honest effort, you’re going to get hard offensive forecheck, try to make plays, and you’re going to get a great effort defensively. And that’s what we got.”
Vigneault thought the cross-checking call on Tony DeAngelo on Saturday might have been called in part because of DeAngelo’s status in the league, having played just 43 NHL games. DeAngelo had also been suspended for abuse of an official, once last year in the NHL and once in juniors.
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“Pushed a guy a little bit, fell on the goalie, to the referee looking right at it, he didn’t call it. The referee that was 80 feet behind called it,” Vigneault said. “I’m thinking if that’s a veteran guy, probably doesn’t get that call. A younger player that’s got to establish himself, has got to establish that respect with the referees.”
Vigneault did decide to keep DeAngelo on the top pair with captain Ryan McDonagh for Monday’s practice., and likes the offensive talent of the 21-year-old. “He had some real good moments, some real good decisions with the puck,” Vigneault said “There’s no doubt that upside is there.”
It hasn’t been an easy transition for Kevin Shattenkirk, but Vigneault thought the big free-agent signing was on the right path. He also used a rather apt analogy for the experience he brought with him.
“He’s got money in the bank,” Vigneault said. “I don’t mean money in the real money, but the way that he’s played in the past. It’s different than a young player trying to establish himself. The young player has to get money in the bank. Shattenkirk has played in tough moments. I’m looking at his game [from Saturday] right now, and for 45 minutes, I really like 98 percent of the things that he’s doing.Then there’s a couple gap issues that are causing our team chances for the opposition. But he’s on the right path. ”