COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ryan Lindgren was sidelined with an undisclosed upper-body injury ahead of the Rangers’ 5-3 loss to the Blue Jackets Saturday night at Nationwide Arena.
The 25-year-old defenseman blocked a hard shot with his hand in the season-opening win in Buffalo, but practiced on Friday and participated in the morning skate on Saturday.
Head coach Peter Laviolette said Lindgren is day-to-day and will be evaluated further when the Rangers return to New York.
The drastic difference in the Rangers’ defense when Lindgren isn’t a part of it, however, continues to be apparent.
Laviolette stuck with the top-four D pairs the club has used for years because they’ve made up one of the more formidable defense corps in the NHL.
Without Lindgren, Zac Jones drew into the lineup for his season debut and skated next to Braden Schneider on the third pair, while Adam Fox lined up next to Erik Gustafsson.
The usual pairing of K’Andre Miller and Jacob Trouba remained intact.
The Jones-Schneider duo was on the ice for two of Blue Jackets captain Boone Jenner’s three goals, while Schneider was on for all three.
“That would be an excuse,” Laviolette said of whether Lindgren’s absence impacted the Rangers’ game. “I don’t think that really had anything to do with the game.”
Fox noted that the defense was prepared to play without Lindgren from the morning.
“It always hurts when you don’t have a player of that caliber,” Fox said. “But we were prepped, we knew from the morning. It was something we were prepared for. You lose a good player, it’s going to hurt you. The D, we’re comfortable playing with each other.”
Jimmy Vesey drew into the lineup for the first time this season in place of Tyler Pitlick.
“Nobody had played poorly to come out the lineup,” Laviolette said of the switch. “I just didn’t want anybody sitting for long stretches for no reason. We’re going to need everybody and I wanted to get everybody involved.”
Pitlick, who signed a one-year, $787,500 contract this offseason, made his Rangers debut in the season-opening victory at Buffalo.
He logged 12:34 of ice time, including 1:45 of shorthanded time, while skating on the right wing of the fourth line, alongside Barclay Goodrow and Nick Bonino.
Laviolette made it clear that scratching Vesey in the opener was not an easy decision.
Vesey, who is now in the first of the two-year extension he signed with the Rangers in January, slotted in Saturday on the right wing of the fourth line.
Igor Shesterkin earned the starting nod in goal Saturday night, marking the second season in a row the Russian netminder played in the Rangers’ first two games.
“He’s fresh, he’s ready to go,” Laviolette said. “You know, we had a good practice [Friday], and he’s ready to play.’’
Shesterkin gave up five goals on 21 shots.
The Rangers will play six of their next eight contests on the road to close out October.
After two home games next week, the Blueshirts take off on a five-city, 12-day road trip through Seattle and western Canada cities Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver and Winnipeg.