PITTSBURGH — Carl Hagelin and Mats Zuccarello will battle each other for pucks and playoff spots the next two months, but whether Hagelin prevails for the Penguins or Zuccarello triumphs for the Rangers, everyone watching should pause for a moment and consider this:
It is April 25, 2015, the day after Zuccarello has been hit in the head with a puck during Game 5 of the first round series against the Pens. He has a skull fracture, a brain contusion and brain bleeding. Hagelin, still a Ranger, and Derick Brassard walk into Zuccarello’s hospital room. Hagelin can take it from there:
“It was the day after it happened,” Hagelin told the Daily News Wednesday morning at CONSOL Energy Center.