The Rangers have another injury worry on their hands.
In their 5-4 shootout win over the Flyers at Madison Square Garden on Saturday afternoon, J.T. Miller exited early during the third period and is currently being evaluated for an upper-body injury, Mike Sullivan said.
The coach hadn’t heard the results yet following the win.
When chasing down a puck, Miller endured a big hit from Flyers’ Nick Seeler that sent the Rangers captain flying back onto the ice and running into Owen Tippett in the process.
The 32-year-old center was slow to get up and sat hunched over on the Rangers bench before heading into the tunnel toward the locker room with under nine minutes left in regulation.
“I don’t want to say anything too early because we don’t know what’s happening. I’m just sad he left the game but I hope he’ll be alright,” Artemi Panarin said.
Already without defenseman Adam Fox, the Rangers would take a huge hit if Miller is out for an extended period, especially as they have games against the Capitals, Islanders and Hurricanes on deck after Sunday’s trip to Nashville.
The veteran ranks third on the Rangers with 10 goals this season and has the fourth-most points (21).
During pregame, Sullivan said he would be open to putting Gabe Perreault in the top six if he performs well.
In the second period, the 20-year-old was moved to the top line with Miller and Vincent Trocheck while Conor Sheary was down on the third line with Noah Laba and Will Cuylle.
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Perreault had one of the two assists on Trocheck’s third-period goal that inched the Rangers closer to the Flyers’ 4-3 lead.
Adam Fox has been back on the ice and skating in a noncontact jersey for the first time since suffering a shoulder injury Nov. 29, Sullivan said prior to Saturday’s matinee.
The final step would be moving up to full contact.
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“I don’t anticipate that being very long,” Sullivan said. “I think that will happen fairly soon and then once he gets in that full contact capacity, that’s when that status will change to day to day.”
He could be activated for the Dec. 27 game against the Islanders.
