Not only have the Rangers seemingly lost momentum in the Eastern Conference Final, they may have also lost two of their top three centers in the process.
Ryan Strome, who suffered a lower-body injury in game three, took the ice for warmups in game four on Thursday night, but was unable to go. Meanwhile, Filip Chytil, the young center of the breakout Kid Line for New York, was hit by Victor Hedman during game four and couldn’t return with an upper-body injury.
Gerard Gallant hopes to have both ready for a crucial game five in New York.
“[Strome] is day-to-day. Hopefully he’s ready to go Thursday night,” Gallant said, adding Chytil “should be fine” for game five.
If one or both centers are unable to go, the Blueshirts will have little time to feel sorry for themselves, not with the conference final suddenly becoming a best of three heading back to New York.
“Every team is dealing with injuries,” Jacob Trouba said. “We like the depth of our team, we think we can manage and overcome injuries. I think you kind of expect injuries this time of year. Everyone is playing banged up.
“It’s nothing that we’re looking at or thinking about too hard. Do we miss them? Yeah. Do we hope they come back? Yeah. But we have to be able to play without them.”
Follow Ryan Chichester on Twitter: @ryanchichester1
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