OTTAWA — Defenseman Michael Del Zotto could be the latest Ranger to find his way onto the injury list.
With 9:27 remaining in the third period of Thursday night’s 3-2 shootout loss to the Senators, Del Zotto took a hard hip-check from Marc Methot and went down in pain. With the Rangers on the power play and the puck deep in the zone, he hobbled to the bench, seeming to favor his right hip.
After a couple minutes of being looked at by the training staff, he went back to the locker room and did not return for the rest of the period nor the overtime.
The team didn’t have any word on his injury, and said it will see how he feels today when it travels to Montreal for tomorrow’s game against the Canadiens. Before leaving, Del Zotto logged 17:11 of ice time and had two shots blocked and two shots miss the net.
* Superstar forward Rick Nash missed his second straight game with an undisclosed injury. There was no update on his status. Nash did not make the trip, yet he was not ruled out for tomorrow.
When pressed on the topic before the game, coach John Tortorella gave his stock answer.
“We don’t talk about our injuries,” he said.
* Forward Arron Asham missed the game with an undisclosed injury. It wasn’t expected as anything major, and Asham took part in the morning skate. The team said he’s “day-to-day.”
In the place of Asham and Nash up front were Brandon Mashinter and Stu Bickel. Bickel had been a healthy scratch for the previous six. Mashinter played his second game as a Ranger after logging 5:55 on Tuesday.
“I didn’t mind him at all,” Tortorella said about Mashinter, referring to his 5:55 played on Tuesday. “You need to see him more. The biggest thing when you call up a big guy like that is can he play with pace, can he skate at this level. He certainly wasn’t one of our worst players.”
Mashinter finished last night playing 5:44, while Bickel, normally a defenseman, got 6:11.
* With a day to reflect on Tuesday’s ugly and dull 3-1 loss to the Canadiens, Tortorella had some interesting insight.
“It’s not that I wasn’t happy with the game, the game just sucked,” he said. “It’s certainly not a criticism of Montreal, it was just one of those games where neither team generated much offense.
“I would have asked for my money back if I was watching it.”