PITTSBURGH — Scratch Rick Nash for the Rangers’ next two games — and almost certainly at least the next three — in the wake of the groin injury he sustained on the first shift of overtime in Sunday’s 3-2 shootout victory over the Devils at the Garden.
“He obviously won’t play the next two and since we’re back from Christmas [recess] with a morning skate, it’s safe to say Rick probably won’t play in the next three,” coach Alain Vigneault said before Nash missed Tuesday night’s 7-2 thumping by the Penguins. “After that, it will be day to day, where we see how he reacts to treatment.”
Nash, who had been a dynamic force in his three games back in the lineup after missing four due to a separate groin injury he sustained in Brooklyn on Dec. 6, is thus expected to miss Friday’s Garden match against the Wild and the Dec. 27 contest at home against the Senators.
NHL teams are prohibited from practicing during the Dec. 24-through-Dec. 26 hiatus. Vigneault has consistently held to the standard under which players returning from injury must participate in a full practice before reinstatement into the lineup.
On the cusp of his return last week from the previous injury he said “might” have been caused by skating on soft ice at Barclays, Nash said he never before had a groin problem. Now, he has had issues on both sides of the groin that are likely related.
“It was probably compensation and the lovely schedule we’ve had,” Vigneault said in linking this setback to the previous injury and the schedule under which the match against the Penguins marked the team’s ninth game in 15 nights.
Meanwhile, The Post has learned Pavel Buchnevich, sidelined since Nov. 12 with back and core issues, skated Monday for the first time since Dec. 5, and barring an unforeseen setback is on a soft timeline to return within a week or so following the Rangers’ bye week that runs from Jan. 8 through Jan. 12.
Buchnevich, whom The Post previously reported has a protruding disc, will skate every other day for the foreseeable future before ramping up the process. The rookie winger has played in only 10 games in which he has recorded eight points (4-4). He has been sidelined on two separate occasions while going through rehab and following a program to strengthen his core.
Mika Zibanejad, out since Nov. 20 with the broken femur the center sustained on the first shift of overtime in that night’s Garden shootout defeat to the Panthers, remains on target for a mid-January return.
The Rangers are checking with the league to determine whether terms of the CBA would permit Zibanejad and Buchnevich to skate at the team’s practice facility during the mandated bye week. Teams are prohibited from practicing — or traveling — until 5 p.m. on the final day of the bye week.
The Blueshirts will host the Maple Leafs, also coming off their bye week, on Jan. 13.