Returning from a broken left index finger, Rangers captain Chris Drury will make his season debut in tomorrow night’s home opener against the Maple Leafs.
Drury, ahead of the four-week timetable originally slated to sideline him, said the finger was healed but still sore and likely will be for a while.
A full participant in yesterday’s practice, Drury sat at his locker afterward, wearing a slim smile fused by relief and anticipation.
“No one likes to miss games, and certainly when you start a season in the stands, I guess if you play long enough things are gonna happen,” said Drury, who prior to missing the first two games this season, had only missed 20 games in the past eight seasons.
“Certainly it’s something new for me,” he said. “Overall, I feel pretty good and I’m excited to get going.
“It was nice to be out there with some players and goalies and some pucks. Skating with a coach and a stopwatch kind of gets old, so I’m glad that point’s behind me.”
Drury lined up at center yesterday, sandwiched between Marian Gaborik and Alexander Frolov on the top line. Yet, even with first-line center Erik Christensen likely to miss tomorrow’s game with an injury to his right leg, coach John Tortorella said he was not sure how he would use Drury.
A simple switch of Drury for Christensen, who did not practice yesterday, seems logical with how well the second and third lines have played under centers Artem Anisimov and Derek Stepan.
“I don’t think I’m gonna be upsetting those two lines,” Tortorella said. “Chris is gonna play, so I have to make some decisions along the way here and we’ll make those after [today’s] practice.”
Said Drury: “Everyone would love to play with [Gaborik and Frolov]. Obviously, with Christensen not being out there [yesterday], someone had to fill in, so I was glad to do it. But I wouldn’t look too much into it. Whatever Torts asks of me, I’ll try and do it the best I can every single night.”
Christensen injured his leg in the third period of Monday’s loss to the Islanders, saying he felt, “something kind of pull, tug,” but he doesn’t think it will be long before he returns to the ice.
“It felt a lot better [yesterday] than it did [Tuesday],” Christensen said. “It was kind of throbbing a bit, [but] I’m hoping to be back [tomorrow]. We’ll see if I skate [today].”