WASHINGTON — Another day, another day-to-day pronouncement regarding the status of Chris Drury, who missed the Rangers’ Game 1, 4-3 victory on Wednesday with an undisclosed injury.
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“Every day it gets a little bit better, but it’s still day-to-day,” said the captain. “I hope to be ready for [tomorrow].”
Drury did not say what exactly is getting better, but he seemed to have no trouble skating in yesterday’s optional practice. It’s more likely than not that Drury has been sidelined by a wrist or hand injury he sustained blocking a shot during a Garden victory over the Flyers on April 9.
“I prepared [for Game 1] as if I were playing because I didn’t want to get caught if it went the other way,” said Drury, who took pre-game warmups, perhaps a bit of subterfuge. “I’ll do the same thing again and see what happens.”
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Head coach John Tortorella made it clear that he was less than delighted with the Game 1 work of referees Tim Peel and Mike Leggo, specifically citing the holding call against Dan Girardi just 18 seconds into the game, and the lack of a call against Mike Green when the defenseman railroaded Fred Sjostrom into the wall with one minute to play in the second.
“That was a brutal call [against Girardi], a brutal way to open a playoff series,” Tortorella said. “I just don’t get it sometimes.”
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Washington coach Bruce Boudreau declined to say yesterday whether he’d stay with the shaky Jose Theodore in nets for tomorrow afternoon’s Game 2 or whether he’d replace him with rookie Simeon Varlamov.