Alain Vigneault will decide on the Rangers’ starting goaltender for Wednesday night’s match at the Garden against the Maple Leafs after checking on Henrik Lundqvist in the morning.
The Blueshirts coach excused both Lundqvist and Ryan McDonagh from Tuesday’s practice, believing each in need of a day of R&R in the aftermath of returning from Sochi.
“I felt both those guys have logged a lot of minutes this year,” Vigneault said following practice. “I thought that they needed an extra day to totally recuperate and get away from the game for a little bit.
“I’ll talk to Hank [Wednesday] morning and then decide on who’s going to play.”
Lundqvist, who went 5-1 for silver medal-winning Sweden in the Olympics, allowed 10 goals in back-to-back weekend defeats to the Flyers and Bruins, in which he failed to make a game-turning stop in the 4-2 and 6-3 losses, respectively.
Cam Talbot, 11-5 with a 1.75 goals-against average and .938 save percentage, defeated the Blackhawks 2-1 Thursday in the club’s first game following the recess.
Mats Zuccarello, who will be sidelined for the fourth straight game on Wednesday with the broken left hand he suffered at the Olympics, could conceivably return as soon as Friday night in Carolina.
“He won’t be in [against Toronto], but after that it’s day-to-day,” Vigneault said of Zuccarello, who participated in Tuesday’s full practice and indeed filled McDonagh’s spot on the point on the second power-play unit. “It’s a pain thing at this point.
“As soon as he can handle the pain taking a pass — he can shoot — then he should be able to play.”
The Rangers hold the final Metro playoff spot by one point over the Capitals and two points over the Blue Jackets, with all three teams having 20 games remaining. The Flyers, whom the Blueshirts trail by a point for second in the Metro, also have 20 games to go. Maple Leafs, who lead the Rangers by three points for a potential wild-card berth, have 19 games remaining. … The Blueshirts are attempting to avoid their third three-game regulation losing streak of the season, and their first since Dec. 8-12.