Ryan Lindgren's return from injury pays dividends for Rangers

Ryan Lindgren had missed three consecutive games with a lower body-injury for the Rangers entering Game 5 of their playoff series against the Penguins on Wednesday – and it showed.

The defenseman is a key element of the Rangers’ defensive structure, which fell apart in Pittsburgh in Game 4.

So his return was welcome, and it paid dividends. Lindgren looked good in logging 19:34 of ice time, and put a bow on his outing with an empty-net goal that completed the scoring in a 5-3 victory that trimmed the Rangers’ deficit in the series to 3-2.

“That’s what he is; he's a character guy,” coach Gerard Gallant said. “He plays hurt. He plays all the time. And I don't know how many minutes he played tonight, but it seems like he's on the ice all night.

“And he’s just one of those guys that make other people around them better.”

Lindgren was a game-time decision. Even though he showed he was sound during warmups, Gallant dressed seven defensemen and only 11 forwards as a hedge against Lindgren being unable to complete the game.

He needn’t have. The seventh defenseman, Patrik Nemeth, was credited with 16 seconds of ice time.

Gallant presumably will be able to go back to dressing only six defensemen for Game 6 in Pittsburgh on Friday night.

“He just keeps going and battles,” Gallant said of Lindgren. “We had a pretty good idea we were going to be fine for the game. We just wanted to make sure. I didn't want to get caught with only five defensemen if he had to leave, and he was fine.

“He battled hard and competed hard and did all the right things.”

Said Alexis Lafreniere, “He played great tonight. He's a big part of our defense and he's just really steady.”

By Neil Best

neil.best@newsday.com@sportswatch

Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, returned in 1985 after a detour to Alaska and has been here since, specializing in high schools, college basketball, the NFL and most recently sports media and business.