Rangers Training Camp: Day Five Recap
The New York Rangers are already five days deep into training camp, preparing for their October 9th season start against the Buffalo Sabres. Yesterday we were notified that captain Chris Drury had broken his finger when blocking a shot in a scrimmage. Today, as he prepared to see a specialist, Drury talked to Steve Zipay of Blue Notes about his injury:
"It's not a chip." Drury said, but not as severe as the broken right hand that he sustained in April 2009. He hopes to be back in two or three weeks, "four weeks at the latest," he said. "It's not like I'm going away or they're not letting me in the building. I'm not going to miss a beat around here"
Like I mentioned in a previous post, the Rangers only play three games in the first week of the regular season and Drury is only expected to miss two of those. So really the veteran forward will not miss out on a whole lot, only the preseason and second half of training camp.
Head coach John Tortorella also commented on losing Drury.....
"He's a big part of the club," said Tortorella of Drury. "I know he was anxious to get back. I think we'll be able to condition him (while he's sidelined) but we're going to have to do something with the gloves. It just happens too much."
The team continued with their inter-squad scrimmages today, which are getting more and more intense as camp goes on. Brandon Dubinsky had a hat-trick for the green team, but Tim Kennedy, signed as a free agent, rallied his blue team with two goals in the final minutes to make it 6-6 and send the game to a shootout. Dubinsky scored in the shootout as did Jeremy Williams for the green, which outnumbered Kennedy's one goal for the blue.
Brandon Dubinksy is having himself an outstanding training camp; probably the best of his career. He told reporters today that his goal is to be more consistent on and off the ice, and once he can do that, feels he will again move back to the center position. I personally think Dubinsky is better suited for the center position, but is not horrible at wing either. It all depends on where Torts needs him in the lineup.
In the second scrimmage, Evgeny Grachev had a goal and an assist in his team's 3-1 win. For the first time in camp, goaltender Henrik Lundqvist lost a game, however he only allowed two goals since the third, scored by Alex Frolov, was an empty-netter. Biron, on the other hand, earned his first victory.
Lastly, Andrew Gross reports on twitter that the Rangers' lineup for their first preseason game on Thursday against the Devils should be announced either later today or tomorrow. We will have it for you here when announced.
