Alternate captain Artemi Panarin was sidelined with an upper-body injury for theRangers’ 3-2 loss to the Blues in an away matchup on Sunday night, marking the star Russian wing’s first missed game since the 2021-22 season finale.
This latest injury comes just a couple of days after the Rangers put defenseman K’Andre Miller on injured reserve with an upper-body injury following play against Buffalo.
“He’s been a top point producer and you miss players like that,” Adam Fox said on Panarin. “It’s going to hurt you, but we’re at no point of this to excuses of missing one guy or two guys. Everyone has to step up regardless of who is playing or not."
UPDATE: Artemi Panarin (upper body, day-to-day) will not play tonight.
— NY Rangers PR (@NYR_PR) December 15, 2024
It is believed — Panarin — the star forward was hurt in New York’s brutal 5-1 loss to the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday at Madison Square Garden. Panarin did finish game against the Kings on Saturday, but only logged 14:22 TOI.
The Rangers also scratched forward Kaapo Kakko for the first time this season and rookie defenseman Victor Mancini against the Blues.
This marked the 23-year-old Finn’s third healthy scratch of his Rangers tenure, but the first in the regular season after Kakko was benched in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Final in the 2022 and 2024 playoffs.
“We were putting fresh legs in the lineup,” Laviolette simply said of what went into the decision.
As a result of all the lienup adjustments, the first line against St. Louis was of Will Cuylle, Filip Chytil and Alexis Lafreniere.
The second line was made up of Jonny Brodzinski, skating in his first game since Dec. 2, Vincent Trocheck and Reilly Smith, while rookie Brett Berard, Mika Zibanejad and Jimmy Vesey made up the third unit.
Adam Edstrom, Sam Carrick and Chris Kreider played on the Rangers’ fourth line.
Panarin and others missing from the ice certainly didn't help matters; the Rangers fell 3-2 on Sunday against St. Louis.
The Blueshirts are now 3-10-0 in their last 13 games.