Gallant not ruling out Goodrow

Rangers coach Gerard Gallant is leaving the door open on a possible Barclay Goodrow return in the upcoming second-round series with the Hurricanes, which begins on Wednesday down in Raleigh, N.C.

It would be wise not to get your hopes up, however, considering there is talk Goodrow fractured his foot or ankle in Game 1 against the Penguins. The recovery timeline would surely be a bit longer than the next two weeks if that is the case.

“It’s the same,” Gallant said. “He hasn’t skated yet. But we’re not counting him out for this series. He’s not going to start the first couple games, but we’ll see how it goes. He hasn’t been on the ice yet.”

The Rangers miss Goodrow on their forecheck and on the penalty kill, where the utility forward was able to take a good number of shifts to alleviate some of the workload from top forwards Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider. Goodrow is also a player Gallant took a liking to plugging throughout the lineup mid-game to try to spark some offense.

Goodrow, who recorded a career-high 33 points in the regular season with 13 goals and 20 assists, was hurt blocking a shot in Game 1.

The quick return of Tyler Motte makes it easier to believe the same is possible for Goodrow.

Motte suffered what the team described as a “significant” upperbody injury after taking a high hit from Pittsburgh’s Anthony Angello on April 7, nine games after he was acquired by the Rangers in a trade-deadline exchange with the Canucks.

Motte was also off the ice for quite some time. He didn’t begin skating with the team until a couple days before he made his series debut in Game 6 on Friday.

The Rangers agreed to terms with three players Monday, signing forwards Adam Edstrom and Ryder Korczak to three-year entry-level contracts and goaltender Olof Lindbom to a two-year entry-level deal.