If there were anyone from the Rangers hanging out at Madison Square Garden during the Senators’ practice Monday morning, they would have been heartened at what they didn’t see: Erik Karlsson.
Karlsson, the Senators’ star defenseman, captain, leading scorer and linchpin to their success, recently revealed he has been playing with two hairline fractures in his left heel. So he was given the morning practice off to rest.
The injury has not kept him out of any playoff games, including the two in which the Senators defeated the Rangers in Ottawa leading into Tuesday night’s Game 3 at the Garden.
And it’s not going to keep him out of Game 3.
Ottawa coach Guy Boucher described Karlsson staying off skates Monday as a maintenance day.
“He’s 100 percent,’’ Boucher said.
That, of course, is hardly likely.
“I was told to get some rest, so I was excited to take the most advantage of it,’’ Karlsson said.
When it was suggested to him by a reporter that he appeared to be in “some discomfort’’ during Saturday’s Game 2 in Ottawa, Karlsson said, “You’re always in discomfort at this time of year. Your body is going through a lot. It’s not something that’s uncommon or something you can’t deal with it. It’s not something that’s going to be an issue moving forward.’’
The Rangers, as they have attempted in the first two games, hope to make as many issues as they can to slow the Senators star down Tuesday night — everything from more physicality to perhaps taking advantage of that heel injury.
“He’s the elite of the elite, but we’ve got to do a job,’’ Rangers coach Alain Vigneault said after practice Monday. “We’ve got to try to slow him down, impede his way a little bit, finish a check honestly when we have a good check opportunity. But he’s a great player.’’
Asked if, given Karlsson’s injury, there will be more emphasis on forechecking him in an effort to disrupt things, Vigneault said, “It’s probably something we’re trying to do, but again, he’s evasive.
“As much as you can limit a guy of those capabilities. In the last game, in the first five minutes alone he came up the ice three times and beat our forecheck. You talk to our guys, and I’d be the first to say, ‘Coach, you’re telling me, but he’s not that easy to stop.’ That’s a fact. He can make a pass, he can bob and weave, and he can blow by you with one quick stride.
“Players like that are smart and they don’t usually put themselves in bad positions. They’ll go and get the puck and they’ll take the hit. They’ll never put themselves in a position where they can get hurt. That’s why they’re great players, and that’s why they play the number of games that they do.’’
The injury did not seem to limit Karlsson in the opening-round series against the Bruins. He played a career-high 41:51 of ice time in a double-overtime Game 5 loss and logged another 29:53 in the Sens’ series-clinching Game 6. He finished with six assists in the six games against Boston.
Karlsson, who scored 71 points in the regular season, joined Islanders Hall of Famer Denis Potvin as the only defensemen in league history to lead his team in scoring for four consecutive seasons. He’s one of three finalists for the Norris Trophy, which is given annually to the league’s most outstanding defenseman. It’s an award he’s already won twice at age 26.