Thursday, March 28

Rangers will miss Barclay Goodrow’s versatility vs. penguins


PITTSBURGH — Losing Barclay Goodrow for at least the remainder of the first-round series against the Penguins is a big blow to the Rangers for many reasons.

Not only does the utility forward give head coach Gerard Gallant flexibility with his lineup, but Goodrow brings Stanley Cup-winning experience to an otherwise young and largely green group. He is also one of the Rangers’ top penalty-killers and serves as a driving force on the forecheck in the bottom six.

Goodrow suffered a lower-body injury in Game 1 that had to be relatively serious to prompt Gallant to insinuate that the 29-year-old wouldn’t be available for the potential five remaining games, beginning with Game 3 Saturday night at PPG Paints Arena .

The play that possibly led to the injury may have come when Goodrow blocked a Mike Matheson shot with his lower leg and/or ankle early in the second period. Goodrow finished the remainder of the Rangers’ marathon triple-overtime loss, recording two shots on goal, one hit and two takeaways over 20:42 of ice time despite the injury.

Barclay Goodrow is ruled out for the rest of the series.
Getty Images

While Goodrow and his 66 games of playoff experience comes out of the Rangers lineup, veteran defenseman Justin Braun has drawn in after Ryan Lindgren’s lower-body injury that sidelined him for Games 2 and 3. Braun’s 101 postseason games certainly makes up for the loss of Goodrow in that category, but it’ll be difficult to replicate Goodrow’s contributions on the ice.

Off the ice, however, Goodrow is still very much around the Rangers and trying to make an impact in any way he can.

“He’s obviously a big player for us and we’re going to miss him,” defenseman Jacob Trouba said. “But we love the depth of our team. It’s not like he’s gone. He’s here today. He’s still around. He’s a big part of what we do. His attitude from him, his energy from him is still around the rink. But next guy up and hopefully he gets back as soon as he can.

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“Just being himself, he’s a good guy to have around. Obviously, he’s bummed right now, but he’s still got a smile on his face from him and chatting it up with everybody and helping guys where he can.

Forward Dryden Hunt has replaced Goodrow on the left wing of the fourth line next to Kevin Rooney and Ryan Reaves. Even though Hunt was n’t necessarily a downgrade given his performance in Game 2, in which the 26-year-old recorded three hits in 10:38 of ice time, the most notable obstacle is the fact that he’s not a penalty -killer.

Goodrow logged the most shorthanded ice time (183:18) for the Rangers during the regular season, and Lindgren (174:16) wasn’t too far behind. Losing their top two penalty-killers has thrust more of a workload onto forwards Chris Kreider, Andrew Copp, Kevin Rooney and Mika Zibanejad.

Without Goodrow, Copp (2:30) logged the most shorthanded minutes among forwards in Game 2 and Rooney saw a couple seconds less with 2:27. The Penguins only had two power-play opportunities in the second game of the series, but should Pittsburgh see more time with the man-advantage, the Rangers will feel Goodrow’s absence.


nypost.com

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