Rangers’ Artemi Panarin day-to-day with upper-body injury

The New York Rangers will face off against the St. Louis Blues on Sunday without Artemi Panarin in the lineup as the star left winger is considered day-to-day with an upper-body injury.

Panarin suited up in Saturday’s 5-1 loss on home ice to the Los Angeles Kings, registering one assist and a minus-two rating in more than 14 minutes of ice time.

On the season, the 33-year-old Russian-born forward headlines the Rangers with 36 points counting 15 goals and 21 assists in 29 appearances. Panarin is in his sixth season with New York and is coming off a career year in which he finished with 49 goals and 71 assists for a career high of 120 points, good for fourth-best in league-wide scoring.

Per PuckPedia, Panarin is in the sixth year of a seven-year pact that carries an annual average value just north of $11.6 million. Panarin originally joined the Rangers in the 2019 offseason as an unrestricted free agent.

Prior to signing in New York, Panarin split four seasons between the Chicago Blackhawks and Columbus Blue Jackets. In all, his time with all three clubs has counted 701 career contests in which he has registered 280 goals and 537 assists for 817 points. Panarin ranks 14th in Rangers’ all-time scoring with 497 points in 379 games.

In facing off against the Blues, the Rangers will look to return to their winning ways where, following a hot start to the season in which the club went 12-6-1 through its first 19 outings, the slumping squad has found the win column only three times in its past 10 outings. As part of that stretch, the Rangers are 2-3-0 since dealing their former captain Jacob Trouba to the Anaheim Ducks earlier this month.

Entering Sunday action, the Rangers sit 15-13-1 and one point back of the Ottawa Senators for the second wildcard position in the Eastern Conference.