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Rangers' Artemi Panarin reportedly nursing upper-body injury

NEW YORK, NY - JANUARY 13: Artemi Panarin #10 of the New York Rangers shoots the puck against the New York Islanders at Madison Square Garden on January 13, 2020 in New York City. (Photo by Jared Silber/NHLI via Getty Images)

It appears as if the New York Rangers will be without a key piece tonight as they prepare to take on their cross-town rivals.

According to pre-game reports, star winger Artemi Panarin is expected to miss Tuesday night’s contest with the New York Islanders due to a lingering upper-body injury that has apparently plagued him for quite some time. With the Bread Man out of commission, it looks like we’ll be carb-free for the time being. And that’s just no fun at all.

Panarin’s ailment seems to be more serious than expected. As outlined by Newsday’s Andrew Gross, this “upper-body issue” had been hampering to the point that it caused Panarin to miss the Rangers’ prior two practices.

No further information has been revealed regarding the injury itself.

In a turn of good news, however, tonight’s game is the Rangers’ last before the All-Star break, giving their star sniper some recovery time to get his health in order. And they’ll certainly need him to do so, too, especially if they have any intention of making up some ground in the Metropolitan Division playoff picture.

Panarin is in the midst of a remarkable season at the moment, having racked up a whopping 26 goals and 42 assists for 68 points in just 47 games. Those are eye-popping numbers, the kind the Rangers need back, badly.

For the sake of all that is good in hockey, here’s hoping Panarin’s absence is a brief one.

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