Jack Johnson, who cleared waivers Monday before being assigned to the taxi squad, will be sidelined for the remainder of the season after undergoing core-muscle repair surgery on Friday. Johnson, signed to a one-year free agent deal last summer, played 13 games for the Blueshirts in which he recorded one point (a goal at Pittsburgh on March 9), with a minus-five rating.
As the 34-year-old defenseman will remain on the taxi squad, the Rangers will only be charged a (prorated) cap hit of $75,000 with an AHL allowance of $1.075 million on his $1.15million salary. Johnson will escape the NHL’s 20 percent escrow deduction.
Other than Keith Kinkaid replacing Alexandar Georgiev in nets, the Blueshirts went with the same lineup in Saturday’s 3-1 win over the Capitals as in Friday’s 2-1 loss. That meant Julien Gauthier was designated as a healthy scratch for the third straight game, the fourth of the last five, and for the 10th time in 30 games overall.
K’Andre Miller was struck in the face by a deflected shot 1:59 into the second period and returned to the ice at 8:41 after being tended to by the training staff. The rookie played 18:21 on the night.