Heroic Henrik: Henrik Lundqvist is tended to by Rangers medical staff as concerned teammates look on. He was fine leading the team to victory over the Hurricanes.
AP Photo by Mary Altaffer/Getty Images

The Rangers got bad news on Henrik Lundqvist. After missing Wednesday’s game against Boston with a neck injury, he’s expected to be out three weeks. New York Post’s Larry Brooks broke the story this morning.

The team officially labeled it a “vascular injury” and said Lundqvist “will remain sidelined at least three weeks, until he is reevaluated.”

“We have been conferring with leading medical experts to ensure the best possible care,” the statement read.

The injury occurred during the second period of last Saturday’s win over the Hurricanes. Lundqvist was struck in the throat by a Brad Malone shot. He was exposed due to Ryan McDonagh accidentally lifting his mask. The scary incident saw our goalie down for five minutes having trouble breathing. After the training staff came out, he was able to stay in the game despite admitting having headaches and dizzy spells. A concussion was ruled out. After starting against Florida, it took a turn for the worse.

It has been diagnosed by WebMD as a vascular injury which is causing an issue getting enough blood to the brain. In a word, peculiar. The Rangers face a dicey situation. They feel Lundqvist can use recovery and be back in as little as three weeks. But is that overly optimistic? They’re dealing with the unknown. A freak injury that has many perplexed. Should he have played Monday? Or is it one of those unpredictable injuries that the medical staff couldn’t identify and didn’t have a serious impact until Tuesday?

Whatever the reason, logic does not apply. For the foreseeable future, backup Cam Talbot will be the goalie. It’s now time to find out about the second-year netminder who’s been as reliable as any understudy. He’ll get the call tomorrow for a big test at Nashville and then return to net Sunday for the Stars at MSG.

It’s Cam Time. The question for the Rangers and GM Glen Sather is do they go out and get a backup. It’s probably too much to ask 20-year old MacKenzie Skapski to back up or even get the rare start. Evgeni Nabokov can be had on waivers. But he’s virtually done. Whatever Rangers brass decide, the season just became a whole lot more interesting.