PITTSBURGH — Chris Kreider was a late scratch for the Rangers on Sunday afternoon.
After taking the PPG Paints Arena ice for warmups and participating in line rushes ahead of the Blueshirts’ matinee matchup with the Penguins, Kreider was ruled out with an upper-body injury as the final lineups were due.
The Rangers classified the 33-year-old as day-to-day.
That brought Arthur Kaliyev, who appeared to be heading toward a healthy scratch Sunday, back into the lineup.
Kreider — who played for Team USA in its 4 Nations Face-Off final loss to Canada on Thursday and scored a goal in the Rangers’ loss to the Sabres on Saturday — has been dealing with injuries sporadically this season, beginning in November with back spasms that sidelined him for three games.
The longest-tenured Ranger was also put on injured reserve in January for four games with an upper-body injury.
The only other regular-season game he’s missed so far this season was against the Devils on Dec. 23, when Kreider was a healthy scratch.
The Rangers went back to Igor Shesterkin in goal Sunday afternoon, after the star Russian netminder was pulled just 18:21 into the eventual 8-2 loss to the Sabres.
The thought process was that Shesterkin didn’t see as much time as backup Jonathan Quick did in the previous game, so the Blueshirts were comfortable coming back to him for a second straight game.
It marked the first time Shesterkin has made back-to-back starts since Feb. 25-26, 2023.
Under similar circumstances to this weekend, that was when Shesterkin was pulled after the second period in Washington before the Rangers went back to him the next day at Madison Square Garden against the Kings.
Jimmy Vesey drew back into the Rangers lineup after serving as a healthy scratch in the first contest out of the break on Saturday in Buffalo.
Head coach Peter Laviolette opted to switch Mika Zibanejad back to the wing of the Rangers top line next to J.T. Miller and Artemi Panarin.
