Ryan Lindgren made his return for the New York Rangers on Tuesday night against the Montreal Canadiens. He missed the first five games of the season with an upper-body injury that he suffered in the preseason after fighting with Scott Mayfield. Lindgren confirmed that he suffered a jaw injury, which ended up requiring surgery. “I ended up getting surgery on it,” Lindgren said. “I’ve been skating for a while now, skating with the bubble obviously. Just kind of getting used to that. It feels good now.” The 26-year-old defenseman was practicing for the past couple of weeks, but wearing a full face shield while he was on injured reserve. After watching his team from the pressbox to start the season, there was no better feeling for Lindgren than to be back on the ice. “I was obviously really excited to be back, be back playing with the guys again,” Lindgren said. “Just real happy to be back playing. I thought it was a real good game by us, a good team win. A good way to finish off the road trip.” Lindgren’s impact was noticeable immediately. He played a real steady game and was solid defensively. Peter Laviolette took notice of his overall presence. “It was awesome to have him back in there,” Laviolette said about Lindgren. “He’s a real good defender and plays heavy minutes and hard minutes for us. Jumping back in for the first time is never an easy thing, but I thought he played a pretty good game for coming back in.” Stan Fischler talks about Matt Rempe. Lindgren was paired alongside rookie Victor Mancini and they seemed to compliment each other well. In Tuesday night’s game, Lindgren recorded 17:20 minutes. His usage should only go up as he continues to play more games and get back to 100 percent.
