It was a successful return to the ice for Rangers captain Ryan McDonagh, as the defenseman came back from a four-game absence because of an abdominal strain and was solid while playing a team-high 22:54 during his team’s 5-1 win over the Hurricanes on Friday night at the Garden.
“Felt really good,” McDonagh said. “Thought I moved my feet well, got around the ice and played strong defensively. Felt like I got even stronger as the game went on, so that was good.”
McDonagh returned to pair with Nick Holden, and he did seem to have some more jump in his legs than he did before the injury. According to coach Alain Vigneault, McDonagh had a MRI exam that revealed the strain about “a month or six weeks ago,” and it was his high pain tolerance that allowed him to play through it for so long.
But even he admitted it had affected his game, and he and the medical staff decided a rest was needed. But after three straight days of skating leading up to the game, Vigneault said McDonagh is “as close to 100 percent as you can get during the season.” And then he showed it on the ice.
“Thought he was a force out there,” Vigneault said. “Thought he skated well, won a lot of his one-on-one battles and that’s what we need from our captain.”
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First-line center Mika Zibanejad missed a second straight game with a delayed onset of concussion symptoms. Vigneault had no update on his status.
Without Zibanejad, the Rangers power play has just one right-handed shooter for both units, Kevin Shattenkirk. It continued to struggle despite going 2-for-7, with both goals unable to mask the poor performance of the other five man-advantages.
The first goal was a gift from Carolina netminder Scott Darling after he woefully misplayed the puck and David Desharnais batted it into the empty net, the other coming from fourth-liner Paul Carey with just 40 seconds remaining in what was a 4-1 game.
“We got a bounce tonight on the power-play goal, but you have to work hard to make your bounces,” Vigneault said. “That’s what you have to do as a group when you’re missing key elements.”
The power play came in 1-for-18 over the previous seven games, which followed a great stretch of 9-for-23 (39.1 percent) in the seven games prior to that.
The Rangers are set to practice at Lasker Rink in Central Park on Saturday afternoon.