The Rangers were forced to finish Wednesday’s game without one of their forwards from one of their most consistent lines recently.
Rookie Noah Laba — their third-line center who’s also carved out a role on the penalty kill — was ruled out with a lower-body injury at the start of the third period, the Rangers announced.
It’s unclear when the injury occurred, but Laba logged 8:40 of ice time before exiting.
His final shift occurred with the Blueshirts on the power play late in the second frame, just before the Devils took a 3-2 lead with a man-advantage chance of their own.
Laba, who has collected nine goals and 21 points during his first NHL season, has recently skated between Tye Kartye and Conor Sheary, and if he misses time, it could force the Blueshirts into a dilemma at center, too.
Adam Edstrom, currently centering the fourth line, hadn’t logged consistent minutes there since he played in Sweden until recently — skating in that spot for the Rangers over Juuso Parssinen, who has been a healthy scratch. J.T. Miller has played wing on the second line alongside Vincent Trocheck.
And the Blueshirts traded Sam Carrick to Buffalo ahead of the deadline.
Urho Vaakanainen also exited with an upper-body injury and was ruled out at the start of the second period, forcing the Rangers to spend the rest of the game with just five defensemen.
