Zuccarello has standout return to Rangers
BOSTON — It was Déjà Zuke all over again, with the Rangers’ Mats Zuccarello playing on basic instinct, zipping around the ice and battling in the dirty areas on Thursday against the Bruins in the popular Norwegian’s first game since sustaining serious brain and head injuries in Game 5 of the first round of the playoffs last season against the Penguins.
“I didn’t think about it once,” said Zuccarello, who scored a firstperiod powerplay goal on a nifty wrist shot from the left circle, got one in the shootout, and added an assist in 19:37 of the Blueshirts’ 43 defeat following the skills competition. “My decisionmaking was maybe a little slow, but bodywise, I felt good.”
Earlier, following the morning skate, Zuccarello couldn’t say for sure whether he would initially be the same fearless player he always had been before he was struck on the left side of the head by that Ryan McDonagh shot late in the first period of that April 24 match — five months ago to the day.
“I need to be gritty and go to the dirty areas of the ice,” said No. 36, who is one of the Rangers’ most edgy, physical players. “That’s my game and hopefully that’s going to be my mindset.
“At the beginning maybe it will be an issue, but as the season goes on and the games come I won’t be thinking and I will play on instinct.”
In April, there was no guarantee Zuccarello would make it back to the Rangers to continue his career, not when he was hospitalized for four days, was temporarily unable to speak and had lost feeling in his left arm. And then it wasn’t about hockey, but about Zuccarello’s quality of life.
“Right away it’s kind of like, it’s almost your life. ‘How’s my life going to be like this?’ ” Zuccarello said. “I can’t talk, I can’t function. So it’s more like that. After that, it’s ‘Am I going to play again?’
“I think the doctors were great. They said everything would be OK but it’s hard not to have those thoughts [about the end of his career] in the hospital. You can barely move. You have all those things in your head and you can’t talk. For sure, it crossed my mind.”
Zuccarello progressed steadily. He was able to get on the ice in midJune for a charity game in Norway that he had helped organize and for which teammates including Brassard, Chris Kreider and Kevin Hayes (and thenRanger Carl Hagelin) participated.
“Just being on the ice with my teammates, and the way they were so positive helped so much,” Zuccarello said. “When I was at my worst, my teammates were so supportive, visiting me at the hospital.
“I can’t thank them enough for how they treated me. I’m happy to be here today. It’s an exciting day for me to come back.”
His performance, in conjunction with his health, made it an exciting day for the Rangers.
“It was obviously great to see,” coach Alain Vigneault said. “Not just for him to be healthy, but to be healthy and play the way he did.”
Hayes didn’t have much of a game in the middle, but he did score a goal. Vigneault had challenged Hayes to elevate his game prior to the match. Hayes would need waivers to be assigned to the AHL, so there is no chance of him not being a Ranger. It’s just a ques tion of where and with whom he plays.
Brady Skjei, who also scored, played another impressive game, but wouldn’t seem to have any chance of sticking out of the gate as the seventh defenseman, the kid in need of big minutes in his first full pro season.
Emerson Etem continued to struggle.
Keith Yandle played with an intensity meter at close to zero.