NEW YORK -- Rangers captain Ryan McDonagh was playing through a broken foot, coach Alain Vigneault revealed after New York was eliminated from the playoffs with a 2-0 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals Friday night at Madison Square Garden.
"[Ryan] played through a lot of pain," Vigneault said, adding that McDonagh played through the injury for "a couple games."
McDonagh went to the dressing room shortly after the start of the first period Friday night and did not take his first shift until there was 7:19 remaining in the opening frame. He ultimately logged 17:33 of ice time and was a minus-1.
McDonagh said the injury forced him to "simplify things." The 25-year-old defenseman did not possess his usual slick skating ability and appeared limited.
The Rangers' training staff put a freezing agent on McDonagh's foot to ease the pain, but it took a while to kick in. The team didn't know whether he was going to be able to play, forcing Matt Hunwick to dress as the seventh defenseman.
McDonagh did not practice Thursday in what the team had described as a maintenance day. He logged 21:57 of ice time in Game 6 on Tuesday night.
In 19 playoff games, McDonagh tallied three goals and six assists.
