NHL

Rangers’ Dubinsky has sinus trouble, not hand injury

The injury to Rangers forward Brandon Dubinsky has changed overnight, according to coach John Tortorella.

After Dubinsky left the Rangers’ 4-1 loss to the Devils on Tuesday after a first-period fight with Ryan Carter, the team claimed he had hurt his hand. Wednesday after practice, Tortorella said Dubinsky was having so trouble with his nose and sinuses.

“Just didn’t feel well; got hit in the nose pretty hard,” Tortorella said. “[He is] just having some problems with his sinuses; just isn’t on top of it. So he took today off.”

It was pretty clear Carter got that better of the fight, which happened 3:03 into the game. In essence, Dubinsky was trying to spark his team after it allowed Ilya Kovalchuk to score on a breakaway 49 seconds into the game.

Dubinsky was benched for all of the third period during Thursday’s 3-2 win in Carolina, then redeemed himself in the eyes of Tortorella the following night, scoring the game-tying goal in a 4-3 overtime loss at Tampa Bay.

“If we want to continue to grow as a hockey club, he needs to be a part of it,” Tortorella said then.

The coach did say Dubinsky, with seven goals and 19 assists in 62 games, will make the trip with the team to Ottawa for Thursday’s game and to Chicago for Friday’s game.

bcyrgalis@nypost.com