It’s a game of musical chairs for both starting defenses today when the Rangers travel to Ottawa to take on the Senators.
For the Rangers, Paul Mara will be out after hurting his shoulder in the last minute of Thursday’s 4-2 win against the Islanders. Mara has been solid on the blue line all year, tallying four assists and one goal.
Taking his place will be Marek Malik, who has been sidelined since Nov. 1, when in a game against the Capitals he went feet-first into the sideboards, resulting in back and rib problems.
Malik has been skating in practice for the last couple weeks, but the soreness and sensitivity of his injury has kept him out the lineup.
Good news for the Rangers is that the injury to Mara will reunite the familiar defense pair of Malik and Michael Roszival. Roszival had been skating with Marc Staal, the 20-year-old, who now will be paired with Jason Strudwick.
For the Sens, defenseman Anton Volchenkov is expected to miss about a month after breaking his right index finger during Ottawa’s 6-5 loss Thursday.
bcyrgalis@nypost.com