It was a happy sight for the Rangers to see Pavel Buchnevich back in the lineup as he made his return from two-month absence due to a back injury in a 4-2 loss to the Maple Leafs on Friday at the Garden.
But caution has not been thrown to the wind with the 21-year-old Russian winger, who coach Alain Vigneault said would not play the second game of this back-to-back, Saturday night up in Montreal.
“The docs want to be on the prudent side there,” Vigneault said Friday morning. “But I feel with everything he’s gone through, with the daily work he’s getting with our conditioning staff and our medical staff, that it should not be an issue any more.”
Buchnevich played on a line with Oscar Lindberg and Jesper Fast, and was on the second power-play unit. He got 10:43 of ice time, and collected an assist on a late third-period goal from J.T. Miller.
In his first season of North American hockey, Buchnevich played 10 of the first 15 games, tallying four goals and eight points. Yet soon after the Nov. 12 game at Calgary, the spasms in his back were traced a previously existing disk issue, and the training staff thought it best he try to strengthen his core to help protect it. The first timeline was three weeks, and it ended up taking more than twice as long.
“I would say he was strong enough [when he entered the league],” Vigneault said. “But his back had some issues from probably the past year or so.”
Buchnevich went down and played three games with AHL Hartford over the Rangers five-day bye week, scoring one power-play goal, before he was recalled and practiced with the team Thursday.
Defenseman Marc Staal remained out of the lineup as he continues to go through concussion protocol. Vigneault didn’t have any update on him.
That kept Adam Clendening in for the third straight game after the 24-year-old righty had played just four of the previous 35. As for trying to prove he belongs in the lineup every night, Clendening was trying not to get ahead of himself.
“I think it’s something you want to do, but you don’t need to do too much,” he said before collecting an assist over 16:48 of ice time. “Just play my game and letting things come to me. Using my instincts and moving the puck is enough hopefully to show what I can do. Maybe later on down the road, maybe stick in the lineup a little more often.”
Forward Jesper Fast was a game-time decision after he suffered with the flu through the bye week and lost eight pounds, but he managed to play. He bumped Marek Hrivik from the lineup.
There was also no update on forward Matt Puempel, whose post-concussion symptoms have also kept him on injured reserve.