Gaborik hurt in Rangers' loss to Flyers

Marian Gaborik, the Rangers' leading scorer last season, is out indefinitely with a concussion, yet another injury to a forward corps that has been at less than full strength for the entire season.

Gaborik, 28, who has been enduring the least productive season of his career, played 4:39 in the first period of yesterday's 4-2 loss to the Flyers at the Garden. Then he told coach John Tortorella he "didn't feel well," Tortorella said.

"I left it up to him and Rammer [trainer Jim Ramsay],'' Tortorella said of returning to the game. "He told me 'no,' and I don't know what the timetable is."

Tortorella said he didn't know how the concussion occurred. "Not in this game. I'm not sure when it happened," he said. That creates the possibility that Gaborik, who did not speak to the media after the game, has been playing with concussion-related symptoms.

"Maybe I shouldn't say that; maybe it did. He's been off and on," Tortorella said, backtracking. "Obviously, I don't know when it happened."

Gaborik, he said, was "playing along . . . I know he's had some conversations off the ice, he just wasn't dead-on, but that's something we're going to have to talk to him and Rammer about."

Gaborik will not make the flight to Carolina today for a two-game road trip. Kris Newbury was called up from the AHL Whale. The Rangers (66 points), who have lost eight of their last 10 games, are in seventh place in the East, only six points above the playoff line.

Gaborik, who scored 42 goals last season, had missed 14 games this season, 12 in October with a separated left shoulder. He had no shots in the loss to the Devils on Friday. Since scoring four goals against the Maple Leafs on Jan. 19, he has found the net just twice in the last 13 games.

The Flyers, who have won all four meetings against the Rangers this season, scored twice in the second period, including Claude Giroux's power-play goal, to take a 3-1 lead. But the Rangers, playing their third game in four days, rallied in the third period, outshooting Philadelphia 15-3.

When Marc Staal's shot bounced off the backboards to the left post, Derek Stepan, standing to goalie Brian Boucher's right, did not miss, cutting the Rangers' deficit to 3-2 at 5:28. Artem Anisimov almost tied it with 8:51 left but Boucher (37 saves) gloved the puck in front of the goal line.

Henrik Lundqvist was pulled with 1:07 to play and Kris Versteeg added an empty-netter with 45.3 seconds left.

The Flyers played with five defensemen after Sean O'Donnell left early in the first period with a lower-body injury. The Rangers, who did not have a power play, outshot the Flyers 39-24 and killed two of three power plays. "Unfortunately, it's the same story, different day," Lundqvist said. "We come close. We created enough chances to win or at least tie the game. We have to make that extra play, or me make that extra save to be on the right side."

For only the second time in 13 games, the Rangers opened the scoring. Michael Sauer's wrister from the right point hit the near post, and when Boucher blocked Ryan McDonagh's shot, he appeared to lose the puck. Wojtek Wolski, falling to his knees in front, jammed it between the pads at 12:43.

But the game, and perhaps Gaborik's season, disappeared soon after.