It’s never is good timing when you lose your leading scorer to injury, but the Rangers will go into the rematch against the Boston Bruins tonight, without Artemi Panarin. Coming off a 3-2 OT loss on Wednesday, to make it two losses in two games after a modest 3-0-1 stretch to cap off the first 10 games.
Panarin appeared to injure himself in the third period of the game Wednesday. While it didn’t appear to be a contact type injury, Panarin showed reduced mobility, and sat at the end of the bench for the remainder of the period. He got a little time in the lone PP for the Rangers, but positioned himself high in the slot, rather than his favored spot along the boards.
Taking his place tonight, will be 27 year old Colin Blackwell. Blackwell is himself coming back from injury, having been out since sustaining a lower body injury on January 30th. Blackwell will likely get time on the third line, with Alexis Lafreniere moving up to join Ryan Strome and Kaapo Kakko.
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