Artemi Panarin officially confirms his status for Rangers opening night against the Penguins
Photo credit: NHL
According to recent reports the New York Rangers are likely to have their leading scorer for opening night on Wednesday.
Artemi Panarin returned to practice on Monday at the MSG Training Center, after recent concerns surfaced has he's miss the previous five days with a lower-body injury.
"He made it through the practice today without any issues," head coach Peter Laviolette said. "That's a positive."
The 32-year old superstar was unable to finish his last two preseason games due to his unidentified injury, but it would definitely have to be something super serious to keep him from playing in Wednesday nights regular season opener against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
He practiced in full on his usual line with Vincent Trocheck and Alexis Lafrenière, then confirmed his plan to play.
According to Vince Z. Mercogliano, Panarin practiced in full with his usual line with Vincent Teocheck and Alexis Lafreniere, and then later confirmed his plan to play.
"I feel good right now," Panarin said. "I hope I'm good to go."
Panarin clears the air on why he exited preseason game against the New Jersey Devils
Artemi Panarin said he felt the injury flair up during warmups for Tuesday's preseason game against the Devils and tried to push through it, but ultimately after four short shifts it felt uncomfortable, leaving the team to make the cautious decision and decide it was best to pull him from the game.
"It's preseason," he said. "I had a little bit of issues with the lower body, but we did some treatments. I feel good today."
Last season the winger was voted as the team's MVP after setting new career records in points (120), goals (49) and shots (303). Without a doubt a valuable member of the organization, especially in a five-on-five situation where others have not been.
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