OSCAR WILD
Lindberg can be X factor for ailing Blueshirts
Some statements are old cliches for a reason.
“Obviously it’s a loss for us,” coach Alain Vigneault said earlier this week when announcing do-itall forward Jesper Fast would be out for two-to-three weeks with a shoulder injury, before dropping an all-too-familiar phrase: “But it’s an opportunity for some other guys that have been wanting to play, wanting bigger roles, [to] step up and get the job done for us.”
And so, there was Oscar Lindberg on Thursday night, scoring what turned out to be the winning goal in a 2-1 victory at Boston. It was just the fifth goal of the year for Lindberg, but it was his third in the past six games, as the Blueshirts dealing with another rash of small injuries.
“It was a highly skilled play,” Vigneault said of the move, when Lindberg dragged the puck through a Bruins defender, then lifted one on his forehand to the far-top corner for a 2-0 lead in a game in which the Rangers had lacked any real sustained offensive attack.
“We hadn’t made a lot [of skilled plays] until then,” Vigneault said, “so it caught my attention.”
Lindberg hasn’t done much to draw attention through the first half of this season. But the 25-yearold Swede, set to be a restricted free agent this summer (with arbitration rights) recently has come back to life and made himself a very viable target for the Vegas Golden Knights in the expansion draft in June. But for now, he’s just doing the best he can with the ice time he’s getting under Vigneault.
“Last couple games been [I’ve been] playing better hockey,” Lindberg said after the game, “and I think just by doing that, the confi- dence comes with that.”
The coach gave his team off Friday as they prepare for Saturday’s Garden match against the retooled Canadiens. Montreal still is in first place in the Atlantic Division, but just changed the constitution of its roster at the trade deadline by adding the grit of forwards Steve Ott and Dwight King while jettisoning longtime center David Desharnais. Meanwhile, the Rangers remain solidly in the first wild-card spot as they broke in their newest acquisition, defenseman Brendan Smith, with an opening 20 minutes on Thursday spent almost entirely in their own end. Smith will have a good amount of time to acclimate to the system, along with his old Wisconsin partner Ryan McDonagh, as the returns of Kevin Klein (back) and Dan Girardi (ankle) are not imminent.
But leading scorer Michael Grabner was forced to miss Thursday’s game because of to a hip injury suffered in Wednesday’s practice, when he took an innocent cross check from teammate Adam Clendening during a battle drill. Winger Chris Kreider seems to be playing at less than 100 percent after a lower-body tweak during Tuesday’s 4-1 loss to the Capitals, while Mika Zibanejad missed that game with a left wrist/hand injury that he was just able to return from Thursday.
At this point in the year, it’s a rarity to find any player who is 100 percent healthy. So besides Lindberg, Vigneault has also looked again to 21-year-old Russian rookie Pavel Buchnevich, whose stint with AHL Hartford lasted one game.
With Lindberg and Buchnevich being able to contribute, it can take some pressure off the rest of the forwards as they prepare for a postseason run they hope takes them deep into the spring.