Marian Gaborik Not Expected to Play vs Nashville Predators

As I mentioned earlier in my update, the Rangers are not holding a morning skate today so this will not be official until right before the drop of the puck tonight at Madison Square Garden.

Anyway, Larry Brooks of the New York Post is reporting that the Rangers leading scorer in Marian Gaborik is not expected to be in the lineup tonight against the Nashiville Predators. What is now being called a laceration in his thigh, may be a bit more serious then we first thought, but this also could very well be a case of the Blueshirts staff being extra cautious, which I would expect they would be when considering his inury prone past.

This from Brooks :

""But even if the game is played, Marian Gaborik is not expected to be in the lineup after sustaining a deep laceration in his right thigh that required stitches yesterday after a practice mishap involving Henrik Lundqvist in which the winger was sliced by the goaltender's skate.""

This would be only the third game all season long that Marian Gaborik would be out of the lineup for, and in the previous two that he was, New York lost both (Islanders and Wild). Some believe that the Rangers are holding out on us and have have not given us all of the details regarding the incident, but I will not jump to that conclusion just yet.

Right now I think it is simply a case of the coaching staff looking at Gaborik's history and realizing they cannot rush the healing process and put him at risk for any extra damage. If that were to happen, well, there goes the Rangers season right down the toilet.

Rangers/Predators pregame in a bit.