Already without veteran right wing Mats Zuccarello, who was ruled out of his third consecutive game Monday against Vancouver with a groin strain, the Rangers suffered another blow Monday when they announced right wing Pavel Buchnevich had suffered a broken thumb in the team's 5-4 shootout win Saturday over the Blue Jackets. The Rangers said Buchnevich is expected to be sidelined 4-6 weeks.
"He was playing great," linemate Vlad Namestnikov said of Buchnevich, who has five goals and four assists in 14 games. "It's a big loss for us, but things like that happen in hockey and we just have to move forward and play without him."
Buchnevich, 23, had been playing very well of late, returning from a two-game benching to post two goals and two assists in his last four games, including a goal and an assist in the win over Columbus.
"The last few games, he's been productive offensively and doing all the things he needs to do to be the player he's capable of being," coach David Quinn said. "It's unfortunate to have him out for this six-week period of time, but it's life in our sport and we've just got to move on. And hopefully, he gets better quickly."
Quinn said he wasn't immediately sure what the Rangers would do to fill the hole in the lineup the loss of Buchnevich creates. Currently, the Rangers have two extra forwards on their 23-man roster, including Buchnevich, and the team did not move to call someone up from Hartford.
With Zuccarello unable to play Monday, Quinn plugged Ryan Spooner into Buchnevich's spot on the top line, with Namestnikov and center Mika Zibanejad, for the morning skate. But he said the team would decide later how to configure the lines. Just putting Spooner in for Buchnevich, and Vinni Lettieri into Spooner's spot on the fourth line, allowed the second and third lines to stay the same as they were against Columbus. Any more complicated juggling than that would mean disrupting multiple lines.
