NEW YORK -- New York Rangers captain Ryan McDonagh was playing through a broken foot that limited the defenseman to 17:33 of ice time in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Final against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Friday.
Coach Alain Vigneault confirmed the injury after New York's season-ending 2-0 loss.
Asked how long McDonagh's foot has been broken, Vigneault said, "A couple of games."
McDonagh did not practice Thursday, but the Rangers said the absence was a maintenance day.
McDonagh, who declined to talk about his injury after Game 7, took the warm-up and started the game on the bench. He went back to the dressing room and didn't play his first shift until 12:41 of the first period. He played two more shifts before intermission then took a regular shift through the final two periods.
The Rangers made a late lineup change, using Matt Hunwick as a seventh defenseman and scratching forward James Sheppard.
"[McDonagh] has been playing on a broken foot, and we sort of got caught there after the warm-up," Vigneault said when asked about McDonagh's absence during the first period. "The freezing hadn't kicked in, and we weren't sure if he was going to be able to play, so we made the decision to go with seven [defensemen].
"He went back in [to the dressing room] at the start of the first period, and it kicked in a little bit. But he played through a tremendous amount of pain."
McDonagh, who entered the game leading the Rangers in average ice time at 23:50, was credited with six shot attempts, two shots on goal and a blocked shot.
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