ST. LEWIS — Injuries keep coming to a Rangers team that can't get any rest.
The Rangers lost 3-2 to the Blues on Sunday night at Enterprise Center with Artemi Panarin out with an upper-body injury, with the Russian star wing missing his first game since the final game of the 2021-22 season.
Panarin is considered day-to-day, according to the Rangers.
“He was a top scoring producer, so you're going to miss a player like that,” Adam Fox said of Panarin, who leads the Rangers with 36 points. “It's going to hurt you, but we're not going to do it at this point.” [be making] An excuse for missing one or two people. Everyone needs to step up, regardless of who is playing or not.
“It was a lot of the same messages, a lot of the same stuff, but at some point you have to give up. You have to start winning some wins.”
This incident came just days after the Rangers placed defenseman Quandre Miller on injured reserve with an upper-body injury.
Urho Vaakainanen, whom the Rangers acquired from Anaheim in the Jacob Trouba trade, is also still on injured reserve with an upper-body injury.
While Panarin's absence forced some changes to the lineup, head coach Peter Laviolette also made some notable managerial decisions regarding personnel.
Officials said Kaapo Kakko was a healthy scratch Sunday.
This will be the 23-year-old Finn's third healthy scratch in his tenure with the Rangers, but his first in the regular season since Kakko was benched in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals in the 2022 and 2024 playoffs. becomes.
“We were putting some fresh legs into the lineup,” Laviolette said of how he came to his decision.
As a result, Laviolette was placed on the front line alongside Will Quill, Philippe Sittil and Alexis Lafreniere.
The second line consisted of Johnny Brodzinski, who played his first game since Dec. 2, Vincent Trocheck and Riley Smith, while Brett Berard, Mika Zibanejad and Jimmy Vesey made up the third unit.
Adam Edstrom, Sam Carrick, and Chris Kreider played on the Rangers' fourth line.
Laviolette also chose to sit Victor Mancini.
Chad Ruhwedel replaced Mancini and skated to the right of Connor McKee as the Rangers' third pair.
Zach Jones was paired with Braden Schneider, but Fox and Ryan Lindgren remained.
Lindgren, who has struggled mightily this season, misplayed the puck in the second period when he tried to get between it and Jordan Kyrou right before the Rangers' blue line.
The Blues forward ultimately did it, beating Rangers goaltender Jonathan Quick on a breakaway to give his team a 2-0 lead at the 6:33 mark of the second period.
With no one in the offensive zone, Lafreniere's pass sparked a 2-on-1 rush for the Blues, before Robert Thomas intercepted the pass himself to make it a three-point lead.
Quick started against the Blues.
The Rangers reserve stopped 21 of the 24 shots he faced.
The Rangers will be off Monday and are scheduled to return Tuesday against the Predators in Nashville.
