NHL

Vigneault: Unclear if Staal concussed

Though incomplete, the news on Marc Staal sure could be worse.

Rangers’ coach Alain Vigneault said the defenseman, who left the ice after taking a Reid Boucher check to the jaw midway through the third period of Saturday night’s 4-3 overtime defeat to the Devils, is suffering from neck issues but it has not yet been determined whether he has been concussed.

“Marc at this time is being treated for neck issues which are causing him to have some symptoms, but we’re not sure yet whether the symptoms are caused [by a concussion],” Vigneault said before Sunday night’s 4-1 defeat to the Caps at the Garden. “Obviously with his history, we’re taking every precaution.

“We’ll probably know more here in the next day or two.”

Staal, who essentially missed the first half of the 2011-12 season because of the after-effects of a concussion he had suffered in February 2011, was replaced in the lineup by Michael Del Zotto.

In the last instance, Staal played through post-concussion symptoms for a couple of months. Saturday, obviously educated by experience, the 26-year-old alternate captain left the ice immediately, and angrily slammed his helmet down to the floor of the runway to the locker room.

The Rangers’ medical staff will monitor Staal over the next couple of days, though it is unclear whether he will undergo further testing and/or visit with Dr. Jeffrey Kutcher, the Michigan-based concussion specialist who has become the club’s go-to physician regarding brain injuries.

It is therefore obviously unknown how long Staal — who was also throttled on a high hit by Michael Ryder (of all people) late in the first period of the New Jersey match — will be sidelined.

Staal, who last year missed the Rangers’ final 27 regular-season games and 11 of their 12 playoff matches after being struck around the right eye by a deflected shot on Mar. 5, has been erratic thus far. He has been, however, entrenched on the club’s second defense pairing with Anton Stralman.

Del Zotto, who’d been scratched in six of the previous 12 games, moved up to Staal’s spot while John Moore and Justin Falk formed the third tandem.

The unavoidable change on the back line was not only the only one effected by Vigneault against the Caps. In a surprising move, the coach scratched Dominic Moore in favor of Benoit Pouliot, who had been a scratch for the first time this season on Saturday.

“We brought in Dominic for obvious reasons; his leadership, the way he can kill penalties and his defense,” the coach said. “The last three or four games his game has slipped a little bit so we’re making a change.”

Moore was on the ice for two of the Devils’ three even-strength goals plus Eric Gelinas’ four-on-three power play winner on Saturday on which he inadvertently screened Henrik Lundqvist.

Pouliot, who played poorly, scored the Rangers’ lone goal with a deflection at 18:07 of the third.

Derek Dorsett was sidelined for the third straight game and fifth in the last seven with a sprained wrist. Vigneault said the winger had undergone an MRI on Friday that revealed no serious damage. “It’s supposed to be a bruise,” the coach said. “It’s a day-to-day thing.”