Peter Laviolette discusses what Blake Wheeler means to the Rangers
Rangers forward Blake Wheeler made his return today, joining the team in the Eastern Conference finals after suffering a leg injury in the regular season.
Wheeler last played on February 15th, when he suffered a serious leg injury. At the time, many around the team believed it was a career-ending injury for the veteran. After all, Wheeler is 37, and this very well could be his last season in the league. However, he was determined to return, as he has still never won a Stanley Cup. Ahead of tonight's game, he revealed that he is prepared to sell out for the team.
He told me yesterday, "If I go in, they know I'm going to go through a brick wall for this team."
#NYR
During game four tonight, Rangers head coach Peter Laviolette was interviewed by ESPN in-game reporter Emily Kaplan. She asked him about Wheeler and his response was quite revealing. He talked about how hard the veteran worked to get back just in case the team needed him to be available at some point during the playoffs. He was highly complimentary of the 1100 game veteran.
#NYR
The Rangers lead the Eastern Conference finals 2-1. The Panthers lead game four 2-1 a little more than half way through the game thanks to a powerplay goal from Carter Verhaeghe. Be sure to stay tuned to see how the rest of the series plays out.
Source: HockeyFeed
Coach Laviolette explains what it means to have Blake Wheeler back in their lineup
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