Welcome back, Hank. Lundqvist gets drilled by Cody Eakin. Lundqvist seems fine, but leaves game. Eakin picked up a misconduct. #NYR pic.twitter.com/LRHws8URp2
— Elite Sports NY (@EliteSportsNY) December 16, 2016
New York Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist finally received a start but was forced to leave after getting drilled by Cody Eakin.
Welcome back, Hank.
New York Rangers starting goaltender Henrik Lundqvist has finally made his long-awaited return to the lineup as his club skates against the Stars in Dallas on Thursday night.
The only problem came when Cody Eakin decided to plow through The King.
Check out the video above. With the Rangers already on the power play, Lundqvist left the crease to play a puck behind the net. Eakin, moving at a million miles an hour on the penalty kill, not only creamed Hank, he decided to jump into him.
It appeared as though Lundqvist wasn’t seriously hurt, however, he did leave the ice and head to the trainer’s room with Jim Ramsay. Antti Raanta replaced him and faced no shots for the few minutes he was in.
After the Rangers failed on the ensuing 5-on-3 and eventually the entire Eakin five-minute major, Lundqvist returned to the ice.
The two teams play on during the late stages of the first period in a scoreless game.
