Rangers center Kevin Hayes will be sidelined two to three weeks with a lower-body injury _ apparently a left leg or knee issue _ suffered in Sunday's matinee in Detroit.
The team made the announcement Monday after an MRI.
Hayes, who has 35 points this season, played 8:41 Sunday but did not return for the third period against the Red Wings. Hayes was involved in a knee-on-knee collision with a Red Wing player late in the second period.
After the game, coach Alain Vigneault called it a ''lower-body" injury and that Hayes would be examined by doctors in New York today.
However, in the visitors locker room after the 1-0 overtime win, Hayes was limping and wearing a metal brace on his stiffened left leg.
Matt Puempel, who has recovered from a concussion suffered on New Year's Eve in Colorado, is expected to step into the lineup Monday night against the Los Angeles Kings at Madison Square Garden. J.T. Miller will likely move to center on the third line.
Vigneault's pregame briefing is at 5 p.m.
