Rangers' Vitali Kravtsov misses game with infected tooth

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Vitali Kravtsov just cannot seem to get a break. The rookie forward, who missed nine of the first 15 games due to injuries, sat out Saturday’s 2-1 loss to the Nashville Predators because of an infected tooth.

“He's had a tough go,’’ Rangers coach Gerard Gallant said.

The Rangers initially announced Kravtsov had a “stomach bug,’’ and at his morning skate media briefing, Gallant said Kravtsov had the flu. But in the locker room after the game, Kravtsov said it was his tooth that caused him to miss the game. Asked if he might be well enough to play Sunday, when the Rangers host the Arizona Coyotes at the Garden, he said he didn’t know.

With Kravtsov out, Julien Gauthier, who scored his second goal of the season Thursday against Detroit, moved into Kravtsov’s spot with Panarin and Trocheck, while Ryan Reaves (team-high six hits), who had been scratched for the previous four games, replaced Kravtsov in the lineup, and took Gauthier’s vacated spot on the fourth line. Reaves, one of the league’s most feared fighters, got into a scrap in the third period with Nashville enforcer Tanner Jeannot.

Lindgren off for repairs after fight

Three players left the game briefly with injuries, but all returned to the game later. Defenseman Ryan Lindgren was cut in a second-period fight with Jeremy Lauzon and needed to return to the locker room for repairs but he was back before the period was over; Sammy Blais went off after blocking a shot in the second, and Jimmy Vesey was hit in the cheek by the puck on a shot by teammate Mika Zibanejad.

“They were minor injuries,’’ Gallant said. “It was fortunate that Vesey was OK. The puck hit him in I think the helmet or the visor, so that was a scary one. But he said he was fine.’’

Clock glitch

Gallant was miffed with the resetting of the game clock on the final faceoff. With the final seconds running down, the Predators fired the puck down the ice and the clock appeared to run out. But the officials conferred and :00.6 was put back on the clock, and since Nashville had iced the puck, the Rangers had an offensive zone faceoff and one last chance to make a play.

But before the puck was dropped, the clock was reset to :00.1, which left the Rangers with no time, realistically, to shoot the puck off the draw.

“I was disappointed that it showed zero-point-six seconds, the referee was over there, then went to the faceoff, and then before they dropped the puck, they put zero-point-one seconds,’’ Gallant said. “It didn't make much sense to me.’’

Blue notes

With D Libor Hajek having scored a goal against Detroit, he held his place in the lineup, at the expense of D Zac Jones . . .  F Ryan Carpenter was scratched for the second straight game ... D Adam Fox, who had an assist, played a game-high 28:17, including 7:42 of power-play time ... D Jacob Trouba had a team-high six shots on goal.

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.