Noah Laba exits early with lower-body injury in Rangers concern

The Rangers were forced to finish Wednesday’s 6-3 loss to the Devils without one of their key forwards on one of their most productive lines. 

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. 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. 

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. Head coach Mike Sullivan said postgame that both were being evaluated, and he didn’t know if they’d travel for Thursday’s game against the Blue Jackets to complete the back-to-back. 

“It is what it is,” Sullivan said when asked about the Rangers needing to adjust on the fly. “I mean, it’s just part of the game. Every team goes through it. We have capable guys on the bench. We gotta move people around, but we have capable guys.” 

Laba, who has collected nine goals and 21 points during his first NHL season, has recently skated between Tye Kartye and Conor Sheary. If Laba misses time, it could force the Blueshirts into a dilemma at center.