NHL

Lundqvist can’t discuss injury he’s had all season

PHILADELPHIA—Henrik Lundqvist is making progress dealing with the unidentified injury that kept him off the ice for three consecutive practices and out of Thursday night’s game against the Flyers.

“It’s better,” said Lundqvist, under orders from management not to disclose the nature of the injury he said he sustained during the second game of the season, Oct. 7 in Los Angeles. “It’s definitely moving in the right direction.”

The goaltender spent about a half-hour on the ice following the Blueshirts’ optional morning skate working on lateral movements in the net with assistant coach Benoit Allaire and taking shots from scratches Mats Zuccarello, Justin Falk and Carl Hagelin.

“I would be out there [if this were April],” the goaltender said before the Flyers’ 2-1 victory over the Rangers. “There are ways to hide it and help out with the pain. It’s something I could play through.

“But the season is long and you have to be smart about it. I want to make sure this [treatment] pays off.”

The decision to deal with the matter at this time was dictated as much by the schedule as by the discomfort Lundqvist was experiencing. The four-day gap between games presented the optimum opportunity for the goaltender to get well while missing the minimum number of games.

Saturday’s game in Detroit is obviously at risk, though Cam Talbot’s solid performance in his NHL debut (25 saves) minimizes the urge to rush Lundqvist into the net before he is ready.

“It’s getting better,” he said. “It’s an everyday thing. It’s not something I want to be around for the next couple of weeks. Personally you want to go out there and play and start winning and obviously get points here. It’s a challenge to be patient. But the season is long so you have to be smart about it. You can’t rush it.”

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Hagelin, eligible to come off long-term injury reserve for Tuesday’s game against the Islanders at the Coliseum, said that remains his return-date target. The Blueshirts follow up that game with a pair of home games, Thursday against the Sabres and Nov. 2 against the Hurricanes.

“I’m hoping for the 29th but they told me it would be between that and the second,” Hagelin told The Post. “I don’t think I have another doctor’s appointment next week, but the medical staff will evaluate me and make a decision depending on how I feel and my range of motion.”

Concussed winger Rick Nash, who missed his fifth straight game and is sidelined indefinitely, is believed to be still suffering intermittent headaches more than two weeks after absorbing a head shot from San Jose’s Brad Stuart on Oct. 8.

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Benoit Pouliot was assessed a five-minute major for boarding Max Talbot late in the second. Pouliot shoved Talbot from behind a few feet away from the Rangers’ bench before the Flyer lost his balance and thudded into the boards, cutting his nose. The Blueshirts killed the major.

The Rangers were 0-for-2 on the power play, mustering just one shot in 4:00, and are 2-for-21 while playing 5-on-4. … Brad Richards, who had the lone power-play shot, had four shots overall on 11 attempts. … The Rangers out-attempted Flyers 61-50.

Zuccarello, pointless through seven games, was the healthy scratch up front while Falk was scratched on defense. Chris Kreider played 19:18 in his season debut while Brandon Mashinter fought Wayne Simmonds in his first NHL game of the year.