{"id":557430,"date":"2026-04-21T19:00:36","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T19:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/557430\/"},"modified":"2026-04-21T19:00:36","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T19:00:36","slug":"rangers-daily-zuccarello-injury-concern-carolina-controversy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/557430\/","title":{"rendered":"Rangers Daily: Zuccarello injury concern; Carolina controversy"},"content":{"rendered":"

New York Rangers News<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"avatar\"\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

If you tuned into Game 2 of the first-round Stanley Cup Playoff series between the Minnesota Wild and Dallas Stars hoping to see old friend Mats Zuccarello, you were surely disappointed. The popular former New York Rangers star missed the game due to an upper-body injury.<\/p>\n

More concerning is the nature of that UBI. Though no one from the Wild stated publicly that Zuccarello may have a head injury or even a concussion, The Athletic reported<\/a> that the 38-year-old was hurt in Game 1 after he was on the receiving end of an elbow to the head from Stars defenseman Tyler Myers.<\/p>\n

Michael Russo\u2019s source claimed the hit \u201cwas dirty.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zuccarello remained in the game and finished with three assists, the eighth player his age or older to have that many helpers in an NHL postseason game. With him in the lineup, the Wild skated to a 6-1 road win in the opener Saturday. Without him, the Wild played well but lost 4-2 in Game 2. His status moving forward in the best-of-7 series is unknown.<\/p>\n

As for other former Rangers appearing in the 2026 playoffs: defenseman Nils Lundkvist had a pair of primary assists for the Stars in the win over the Wild; Chris Kreider had an assist and Jacob Trouba logged 25:29 TOI for the Anaheim Ducks, who blew a 3-2 third-period lead and lost the opener of their series 4-3 to the Edmonton Oilers on Monday.; and K\u2019Andre Miller helped set up Jordan Martinook\u2019s double-OT game-winner for the Carolina Hurricanes in thrilling 3-2 Game 2 win over the Ottawa Senators.<\/p>\n

New York Rangers news and analysis<\/p>\n

Here are the pros and cons for Rangers to consider<\/a> when it comes to free-agent forward Alex Tuch. who\u2019s coming off a monster Game 1 of the playoffs for the Buffalo Sabres. <\/p>\n

Injuries to key players certainly played a role in the Rangers disappointing season<\/a>. But they can\u2019t use injuries as an excuse for their failures.<\/p>\n

Pat Pickens details why Dylan Garand is so \u201chungry\u201d to land a full-time job with the Rangers<\/a> next season after acing his first NHL test down the stretch this season.<\/p>\n

Speaking of Rangers goalies, Igor Shestekin shouldered blame<\/a> for the failed season, stating that he specifically \u201ccould play way better.\u201d<\/p>\n

So, did general manager Chris Drury drop a clue about Braden Schneider\u2019s future with the Rangers<\/a>?<\/p>\n

NHL news and rumors<\/p>\n

\"NHL:James Guillory-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Carolina Hockey Now: Rachel Barkley digs into the Hurricanes\u2019 wild and controversial double-overtime win<\/a> against the Ottawa Senators in Game 2 of their first-round playoff series.<\/p>\n

New Jersey Hockey Now: The Devils introduce their new general manager Sunny Mehta on Wednesday. James Nichols breaks down five critical decisions<\/a> facing Mehta as he replaces Tom Fitzgerald.<\/p>\n

TSN: Winnipeg Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff said his team, and the entire organization, perhaps were overconfident this season<\/a> after winning the Presidents\u2019 Trophy in 2024-25, and that\u2019s why they face-planted and missed the Stanley Cup Playoffs.<\/p>\n

Pittsburgh Hockey Now: Dan Kingerski breaks down why the Penguins dropped the first two games<\/a> of their first-round playoff series on home ice to the Philadelphia Flyers, after a 3-0 loss in Game 2.<\/p>\n

Philly Hockey Now: William James breaks down why rookie Porter Martone is \u201cbuilt for the playoffs<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sportsnet: The Edmonton Oilers lost center Adam Henrique in the first period of their Game 1 win over the Anaheim Ducks with what appeared to be a knee injury<\/a>, and he could miss some time.<\/p>\n

NHL.com: Dallas Stars forward Roope Hintz most likely won\u2019t play <\/a>in their opening-round playoff series against the Minnesota Wild until Game 4 at the earliest due to a lower-body injury.<\/p>\n

Sportsnet: Iain McIntrye reports on why Thatcher Demko is the key to any Vancouver Canucks turnaround next season, and how motivated the oft-injured goalie is<\/a> to do his part and get the Canucks back on track.<\/p>\n

Montreal Hockey Now: Marc Dumont does an excellent job analyzing a key stat<\/a> that points to why the Montreal Canadiens defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 1 of their best-of-7 series.<\/p>\n

\t\t\"avatar\"<\/p>\n

\t\tJim Cerny is Executive Editor at Forever Blueshirts and Managing Editor at Sportsnaut, with more than 30 years of … More about Jim Cerny<\/a><\/p>\n

Add Forever Blueshirts as a Preferred Source on Google.\"Add<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New York Rangers News If you tuned into Game 2 of the first-round Stanley Cup Playoff series between…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":557431,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5111],"tags":[5,3328,35,5190,5193,4,36],"class_list":{"0":"post-557430","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-rangers","8":"tag-hockey","9":"tag-new-york","10":"tag-new-york-rangers","11":"tag-newyork","12":"tag-newyorkrangers","13":"tag-nhl","14":"tag-rangers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116444242659924784","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/557430","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=557430"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/557430\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/557431"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=557430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=557430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=557430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}