Injury Update: Ryan Lindgren & Artemiy Panarin

In case you missed it last night, the Rangers pulled off an impressive come from behind victory but finished the night without two key players on their bench. Ryan Lindgren, who jumped to the defense of Filip Chytil following a big hit from Scott Mayfield, left the game after a rather rough drop of the gloves with the Isles tough defender. While it's reasonable to assume the fight resulted in the injury, the Rangers are only labeling it as an upper-body situation. He will be out for a least a few weeks.

As for Artemiy Panarin, it's uncertain exactly what happened but like Lindgren, is absent from practice this afternoon. On the bright side, he is considered day-to-day which in regards to preseason, could mean they're just being extra cautious considering they don't need to overwork him before the season officially begins. By the sounds of it, it doesn't seem like his status for opening night is in question but on the back end, there is now not only competition for the seventh defenseman job, but an opportunity for someone to make the team out of camp as a part of the top-six, at least until Lindgren returns.

While this is an unfortunate situation for both the team and Lindgren alike, this gives Zac Jones, who looked terrific last night a chance to move up in the lineup. In addition to that, guys like Connor Mackey, Chad Ruhwedel, Ben Harper, Matthew Robertson and Victor Mancini who has made quite an impression thus far, a chance to start the season in the NHL. The competition surrounding that will certainly make the rest of preseason a bit more interesting.

Hopefully whatever the injury is with Lindgren it isn't anything lingering from the past or anything that could hang around throughout the season. We've talked extensively all off-season long about just how concerning his injury frequency is and with the Rangers only signing him to a one-year extension, there could be some big question marks before the season even starts.