The Rangers have had a gusty wind soaring through their sails for weeks, but the Sabres slowed them down Monday night before another injury to a key player threatened the team’s buoyancy.
A 5-1 loss to a feisty Buffalo team — just the Rangers’ fourth defeat in regulation this season — was overshadowed by yet another significant injury when the Blueshirts lost Kaapo Kakko in the second period following an ugly and awkward fall on his left leg.
It was clear it wasn’t the Rangers’ night from puck drop, but the apparent severity of Kakko’s injury only appeared to lengthen the club’s journey toward the end of its near month-long injury battle.
“It’s always tough to see something like that happen,” Ryan Lindgren said. “You just hope for the best.”
Kakko exited late in the middle frame after a collision with Buffalo defenseman Erik Johnson swept his legs out from underneath him along the boards.
The Finnish wing immediately grabbed at his left knee and squirmed on the ice in apparent pain.
Replay on the MSG jumbotron drew an audible queasy reaction from the crowd.
When he was brought to his skates and helped off the ice, Kakko couldn’t put any weight on his left leg.
Head coach Peter Laviolette didn’t have an immediate update on Kakko after the loss, saying that the 22-year-old would be evaluated for a lower-body injury and they will know more on Tuesday.
This is just the latest injury in a month that has severely tested the Rangers’ depth.
Just as the Rangers appeared out of the woods with Adam Fox, who skated as a full participant in the morning skate on Monday and is eligible to come off long-term injured reserve on Wednesday against the Red Wings, another injury arose.
On the other hand, Filip Chytil has only just resumed skating on his own since landing on injured reserve with an upper-body injury.
The Rangers also had to play one game without both of their top goalies, Igor Shesterkin and Jonathan Quick, which forced the club to turn to Louis Domingue and Dylan Garand.
Despite their first significant stretch of injuries in a few years, the Rangers haven’t missed a beat and have gone 7-2-1 without their No. 1 defenseman and second-line center — including Monday night’s loss.
The Rangers will likely have to call up Jonny Brodzinski, who currently leads the American Hockey League with 25 points in 16 games.
If Kakko is sidelined for an extended period of time, however, president and general manager Chris Drury may have to look to make a move sooner rather than later.
A certain one-time Ranger who would presumably relish a second chance on Broadway — OK, I’ll say his name, Patrick Kane — remains unsigned coming off hip resurfacing surgery.
“Any time a guy goes down, it’s just the next man up has to fill the role,” Vincent Trocheck said. “We’re going to come together as a team.”
The Rangers didn’t have the sharpest first 40 minutes of play, over which they struggled to cleanly break out of their zone and transition up the ice.
Despite the early Buffalo control, the Rangers earned the first power play and nearly capitalized when Blake Wheeler jammed in a loose puck from in front at the tail end of the two-minute stretch with the man-advantage.
The refs immediately waved it off, however, curiously citing a hand pass after the puck bounced off Will Cuylle’s elbow. Laviolette said he couldn’t challenge the call because refs said the play had been blown dead.
So the Sabres capitalized on the Rangers’ turnovers and careless puck management in the D-zone, jumping out to a 2-0 lead before Mika Zibanejad got the home team on the board with a power-play goal at the 8:08 mark of the third period.
The equalizer, however, never came as the Sabres scored three more times — including an empty-net goal — to seal the win.
“I don’t think we got up to our level of play at all,” Zibanejad said. “A few shifts here and there, maybe. This one was not a good one.”
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