NHL

Rangers’ Gaborik still sidelined by concussion symptoms

When Marian Gaborik said he didn’t know if he would be able to play tonight in Ottawa despite having headaches yesterday morning, the Rangers winger was talking like a man with a brain injury.

“He still has symptoms,” John Tortorella said when asked if Gaborik might be in the lineup.

Yet, Gaborik accompanied the Rangers on the charter flight to Canada’s capital following the team’s 3-1 loss to the Wild at the Garden.

Yet, the Rangers are not having a morning skate.

Yet, neither the coach nor anyone else testified that Gaborik definitely would not play, so, as strange as it seems, and especially regarding an organization that historically has been conservative with concussion victims, who really knows?

Gaborik has missed the past five games with the concussion he believes he sustained on a Feb. 13 hit but continued to play through for another three matches before leaving during the first intermission of the Feb. 20 contest against the Flyers.

The winger participated in practice on Wednesday then skated yesterday morning even though he said he “woke up with headaches and stuff.”

“I felt pretty good [Wednesday] after practice, not as great this morning, but I thought I would try to go on,” said Gaborik, who spent approximately 20 minutes skating and shooting at one of the ice during the club’s optional. “[Wednesday] I felt really good, but now it’s day-to-day again.

“I’ll have to see how it responds.”

Gaborik meant day-to-day on symptoms, but maybe it’s day-to-day on game decisions, though the winger has been unable to remain symptom-free for so much as consecutive days.

“It comes in waves,” Gaborik said of his headaches. “There’s not as much dizziness [as before], a little after skating, but not bad.

“It’s better than it was when I skated on my own for the first time [last Friday],” he said. “I’m obviously not there, but . . .”

But it would be a mistake to assume what appears obvious. It would be a mistake to assume Gaborik definitely won’t play tonight regardless of how gigantic a mistake that would appear to be, given what everyone has been told.

*

Ryan McDonagh
was forced out of the game 4:24 into third period with what Tortorella described as a “wrenched knee” after a neutral-zone collision with Kyle Brodziak
.

“I don’t think there’s anything structural,” Tortorella said. “It’s day to day.”

With Marc Staal
(left knee) returning after a three-game absence, Tortorella reunited the Staal-Dan Girardi
and McDonagh-Michael Sauer
tandems while pairing Bryan McCabe with Matt Gilroy
. Girardi played 22:17; Staal 21:38.

Steve Eminger
would replace McDonagh in the lineup if the freshman is unable to go, but if the Rangers require further reinforcements, Michael Del Zotto
will not be available.

The 20-year-old, reassigned to AHL Connecticut on Sunday, will be sidelined for 4-6 weeks after sustaining a broken finger with the Whale Wednesday night against Springfield.

*

Derek Boogaard
, who has been out with a concussion since a Dec. 9 fight in Ottawa in which he was popped in the jaw and then tossed to the ice by Matt Carkner
, was at the rink in the morning and reported that he is, “Symptom-free, for the most part.”

Boogaard, who has played in 22 games (one goal, one assist with 45 PIM) in his first season on Broadway after leaving the Wild as a free agent to sign a four-year, $6.5 million contract with the Rangers, said he would begin skating on a regular basis next week.

“It’s very disappointing. This is not the year I wanted to have,” Boogaard said. “The first of a contract, coming here, I wanted to have a good year.

“But what can you do?”

*

Marty Biron
, out for at least the remainder of the Rangers’ regular-season with a broken collarbone he sustained on a Derek Stepan
shot in Monday’s practice, also was at the training facility in the morning.

“It was just a routine shot off a two-on-one, and when I felt it, I didn’t think it was anything except that it would leave a mark,” said Biron, whose left arm was immobilized by a sling. “Then when I tried to get up and couldn’t straighten up, I knew it was bad.”