Before coming out of the lineup last Wednesday night in New Jersey, Scott Gomez had played 10 games with an ankle stress fracture he sustained when struck by a puck in Detroit on Oct. 18, The Post has learned.
Gomez, who will miss his fourth straight match tonight when the Rangers and Canucks meet at the Garden, learned the nature of his injury after undergoing an MRI exam on Nov. 7. The center then played two more games before finally yielding to both the pain he’d been playing through and a groin pull he suffered in attempting to adapt to skating with the injury.
Gomez has gone for acupuncture treatment. He did not skate this morning, but is expected to skate on his own tomorrow for the third time. If all goes well, he might practice with the team Friday.
Though it’s extremely unlikely he will return for Saturday afternoon’s game in Ottawa, there’s an outside chance he can play Monday at the Garden against the Coyotes.
“Scotty said that the ankle feels a lot better today after the acupuncture,” Tom Renney said following this morning’s optional skate. “Jaromir [Jagr] went for acupuncture treatments a lot last year, too, and found it quite beneficial.
“It’s fine with me. Going to a witch doctor is good with me if it gets Gomer back on the ice.”
Gomez had seven points (2-5) in his first eight games, including the 5-4 OT defeat in Detroit in which he was injured. He had six points (1-5) in the 10 games he played with the injury, including two points (0-2) in his last six games when he began to labor noticeably.
The Rangers have gone 3-0 without Gomez in the lineup.