The last thing the Rangers need right now is another injury.
But second-year winger Pavel Buchnevich was forced from the team’s 4-0 loss to the Maple Leafs on Thursday night at the Garden with what the team was calling an “upper-body injury.” He took an unpenalized elbow to the jaw from Toronto defenseman Jake Gardiner with 11:28 remaining in the second period and didn’t return.
Buchnevich was not pulled by the league concussion spotters, but there was no update on the nature of his injury or its severity.
The Rangers are already dealing with the absence of winger Chris Kreider (rib resection) and defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk (knee surgery), both of whom are going to remain out for at least a few more weeks.
Rugged winger Cody McLeod made his Rangers debut after the team picked up him up off waivers from the Predators just before the All-Star break. McLeod played 12:12 on a line with David Desharnais and Jimmy Vesey until Buchnevich got hurt, then Vesey went up to his spot on the top line with Rick Nash and Mika Zibanejad.
McLeod did have a game-high eight hits, and he bumped Paul Carey from the lineup.
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“As I mentioned a couple times, our depth is being tested a little bit,” coach Alain Vigneault said. “So he added depth, he added a little bit of experience, and he added a little bit of bite to our lineup.”
With the addition of McLeod, the Rangers decided to keep winger Vinni Lettieri down with AHL Hartford. The 22-year-old Lettieri had one goal and four points in 10 NHL contests.
“He wasn’t going to play right now. I wanted to get Cody in,” Vigneault said. “He’s a young player, wanted him to play, play a lot of minutes. Saw real good upside with Vinni. I liked his pursuit ability, I like his shot, not afraid to shoot it, and from different areas. We have a good young talent there. Takes a little time to develop, but I like his potential.”
Since being recalled from the AHL on Jan. 19, defenseman Tony DeAngelo has impressed Vigneault with his improved defensive play. The 22-year-old — who is an avid Eagles fan from Sewell, N.J. — came over in the Derek Stepan trade to the Coyotes, and made the Rangers out of training camp.
But he was sent down Oct. 24, and seemed to have learned while in Hartford.
“Defensively, he’s been very stable,” Vigneault said. “Stick is better, is in better position to take lanes away and take the opposition’s options away. He’s been good with the puck. Made some good heads-up plays. Most of the games, the way we’ve been tracking him, he’s been on the positive side of chances for and against. So I like what he’s brought to our team so far.”
Defenseman Steven Kampfer was a healthy scratch for the fourth straight game.