Brett Berard left Monday night with an upper-body injury in the Rangers' 5-1 loss to the Devils, just four games into his NHL career.
The 22-year-old winger was slammed into the corner boards by Canadian forward Kirby Dach in the third period of the Blueshirts' 4-3 win over Montreal on Saturday afternoon. Berard focused on his right arm and side as he put on his skates, skating toward the bench for a moment before retreating to the locker room.
But it wasn't enough to prevent Berard from finishing the game, as the Rangers rookie returned for two more shifts.
Berard had a goal and an assist through four games, totaling nine shots on goal, five hits, and two blocks.
With Berard out, Riley Smith returned to action after serving as a healthy scratch for the first time since arriving in New York.
The veteran forward slots in next to Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad, players he skated with in 16 of 22 games this season.
Will Quill stepped up from the top line to fill in for Berard on the left flank of Vincent Trocheck and Kaapo Kakko.
This pushed Alexis Lafreniere to the right of Artemi Panarin and Filip Sztil, reuniting the Rangers with the strong line they started last season before the Czech center went down.
In addition to changes to the lineup due to injuries, head coach Peter Laviolette also made personnel changes.
Jimmy Vesey was healthy for the first time this season after missing the first 10 games of the season on long-term injured reserve with a lower-body injury.
Since his return, Vesey, skating on the fourth line, has two goals and one assist.
As a result, Johnny Brodzinski replaced Vesey on the right wing of the fourth unit, along with Sam Carrick and Adam Edstrom.
On Monday, ahead of the 2025 World Junior Championship, Rangers candidates forward Gabe Perreault (23rd overall, 2023), defenseman Drew Fortescue (90th overall, 2023) and EJ Emery (30th overall, 2024) ) were selected to Team USA's reserve roster.
Training camp will begin Dec. 16-17 at USA Hockey Arena in Plymouth, Michigan, followed by an international tournament in Ottawa, Ontario from Dec. 26 to January 2024. May 2025.
The final members of the U.S. team, which is defending its gold medal at the last Swedish Games, are expected to be announced by December 24th.
Igor Shesterkin started on Monday, making his 18th start of the season.
Russia's star netminder saved 23 of 28 shots during a career-high five-game losing streak.
