Nash, Puempel Injured in Loss to Islanders

BROOKLYN --The Rangers lost more than just a game on Tuesday in Brooklyn.
Rick Nash tweaked his groin while Matt Puempel suffered a concussion in the Rangers' 4-2 loss to the Islanders at Barclays Center.
Head coach Alain Vigneault said he hoped to know more about Nash's status tomorrow, while Puempel will have to undergo concussion protocol.

Brock Nelson hit Puempel up high in the first period, while Nash left the game at 6:38 of the second.
After Scott Mayfield scored to put the Islanders in front 1-0 at 7:03 of the first, the Rangers had a golden opportunity to even the score following Nelson's hit on Puempel, which resulted in a four-minute power play.
But the Rangers were unable to convert despite several opportunities, and it was the Islanders who capitalized immediately after killing the penalty when Jason Chimera scored to extend the Islanders' lead to 2-0.
"It happens sometimes in hockey," said Henrik Lundqvist, who made 28 saves. "We had a lot of good looks. It just didn't bounce our way. They get their guy back and make us pay. Obviously it's tough when it happens because we had so many good looks (on the power play) to get back in the game there."

But the Rangers were able to get one back when Jimmy Vesey pounced on a rebound 56 seconds into the second period to trim the deficit to 2-1. Nash controlled the puck in the Islanders' zone and fired a shot on Jaroslav Halak, which the netminder had trouble with. Vesey was there to put home his ninth goal of the season.
The Islanders, though, would answer back 1:22 later when Lundqvist was caught out of the net after a poke check. Andrew Ladd was opportunistic in scooping up the loose puck and putting it into the empty net to make it 3-1.
"I have to look at it," Lundqvist said. "The problem was to come back in the net there. I got stuck in [Kevin Klein], so I have to look at the tape again exactly what happened. I felt like it was under control, but when I tried to get back in the net I kind of got stuck there. Look at it and learn from it."
The Blueshirts would get one back midway through the middle stanza. Marc Staal finished a pretty passing sequence with J.T. Miller and Chris Kreider to cut the Islanders' lead to 3-2. All three forwards and Staal touched the puck on the rush and the blueliner finished off the play with a wrist shot stick side at 8:54.

But a John Tavares power play goal at 11:13 made it 4-2 and put the game out of reach for the Rangers.
The Rangers' power play went 0-for-6, with the penalty kill allowing one goal in two chances.
"We had empty nets, their guys made saves, we hit shafts of sticks, their goaltender made some good saves. Did everything but score," Derek Stepan said of the power play. "We shot everything. We missed some nets. We shot everything we got pucks back and we were hard on the pucks and we made plays and just weren't able to convert."
The Rangers played the final 33:22 of the game with just 10 forwards, making the difficult task of coming back in the game that much more challenging.
"It's not a situation that you see a whole lot, but I thought guys battled real hard up front," Stepan said. "We only had 10 guys so you're going every third shift. I think we have to find a way to win the special teams battle each night. We lost it tonight, but a lot of positives to take from tonight."
The loss of Nash and Puempel comes at a time when the Rangers are already without Mika Zibanejad and Pavel Buchnevich, and came on a night when they played without leading goal scorer Michael Grabner, who missed the game following the death of his grandmother. He is expected to return to the lineup Thursday in Winnipeg.