The Rangers got bad news on defenseman Kevin Klein. He’s expected to be out three to four weeks. In typical fashion befitting of how James Dolan runs The Garden, the organization is terming it an “upper body” injury.

Why bother with honesty? That’s not how MSG is. They keep you in the dark about injuries. Even if some rumors suggested Klein had a broken left arm, we don’t really know the seriousness of his injury. He suffered it in the final minute of Wednesday’s 3-1 win over the Capitals after blocking a Alexander Ovechkin shot.

Without Klein, I documented in the previous post how important Keith Yandle becomes. His acquisition now looks genius by Glen Sather because it’s insurance. Though he has no points so far in five games, he has played better defensively than expected. If only he could get it going offensively. The power play has struggled. Dan Girardi has the only PPG over the last five. A stretch that’s seen the Rangers go 4-0-1 with Cam Talbot allowing five total goals.

It’ll be interesting to see how Alain Vigneault handles the minutes for our top three. With 16 games remaining, the Rangers are first overall in the East with 91 points. Chasing a President’s Trophy, they visit Buffalo tomorrow. That could be 20-year old rookie MacKenzie Skapski’s second game. Ironically, his only NHL start came against the Sabres making 24 saves for his first career win- a 3-1 triumph on Feb. 20. With Florida visiting Sunday, it’s very likely with Talbot back in for the Panthers.

At the moment, there’s nothing new to report as far as call ups. That means Matt Hunwick will step into the lineup and play third pair. Considering how they stepped up since Henrik Lundqvist’s vascular injury, it presents another challenge. We’ll see how they do the final month looking to lock up home ice.