Rangers lose Ryan Lindgren for several weeks with upper-body injury

As exhilarating as the Rangers’ stunning comeback preseason win over the Islanders was Tuesday night, it proved to be costly.

Defenseman Ryan Lindgren, who fought Scott Mayfield in the first period of the 6-4 win after Mayfield’s hit on Filip Chytil had left the Czech center on all fours in center ice, will be out an extended period with an upper-body injury, the Rangers announced Wednesday.

“It's always tough, losing players,’’ said coach Peter Laviolette, who said Lindgren is out on a “week-to-week basis.’’

“Lindy is tough,’’ Laviolette said. “He plays the game really hard for us, we really value what he does for us … He's an important piece to our team, our core, our leadership group. And the way he plays the game on the ice … those pieces are hard to replace.’’

The news was better on Artemi Panarin, who also left the game early. He is listed as day-to-day with a lower-body injury.

Lindgren, who signed a one-year, $4.5 million contract extension over the summer, attacked Mayfield in the corner as Chytil struggled to crawl toward the Rangers bench. Lindgren was given a two-minute instigator penalty, along with a fighting major and 10-minute misconduct, for starting the fight. But at the start of the second period, the Rangers announced he would not return to the game.

Chytil appreciated what Lindgren did on his behalf.

“I can't even explain it. It's unbelievable what he did,’’ Chytil said. “And I love him as a person. [Look] what's he doing for his team. And I know he would do that for every single guy in this locker room. So he's just an amazing teammate and I'm so happy that I got him on my side.’’

With Lindgren, the first-pair partner of Adam Fox, out of action for an extended period, the Rangers’ defense is going to need some reconfiguring. Connor Mackey, one of the group of players battling to earn the sixth and seventh defenseman spots on the roster, stood in at practice Wednesday as Fox’s partner for the day.

K’Andre Miller partnered with Jacob Trouba, and Chad Ruhwedel, who is also battling for the sixth/seventh spot, partnered with Braden Schneider, with Ruhwedel, a righthanded shooter, playing the left side. Zac Jones, who had two goals in Tuesday’s game, partnered with rookie Victor Mancini.

Mackey, 28, signed with the Rangers a year ago as a depth defenseman, and played most of the season at AHL Hartford. But he was called up for one game in Ottawa Jan. 27, the final game before the All-Star break, when Lindgren was out with an injury and Trouba was suspended for elbowing Vegas forward Pavel Dorofeyev the night before.

Mackey played a solid game that night and fought Ottawa’s Brady Tkachuk, a fight that was credited with shifting the momentum in the game and helping the Rangers stage a comeback win. It was the only NHL game Mackey played last season.

With Lindgren out, Laviolette could elevate Miller to the top pair alongside Fox, and then switch up all the potential defense pairs going into the regular season.

Notes & quotes: D Matthew Robertson, G Talyn Boyko and C Ryder Korczak all missed practice for the second straight day on Wednesday . . . D Brandon Scanlin practiced in a red, no-contact jersey for “precautionary reasons,’’ the team said.

By Colin Stephenson

colin.stephenson@newsday.comColinSNewsday

Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.