Rangers lose one of their top defensemen ahead of critical game.

We have reached the point of the season for the New York Rangers where every single game remaining on the schedule is truly a must-win game. The Rangers are currently 6 points back of the Montreal Canadiens for the Eastern Conference's final Wild Card spot and with only 6 games remaining on their regular season schedule, that leaves precious little time to make up ground.

Unfortunately for the Rangers, an already tall task grew a little more difficult on Monday evening when it became clear that the Rangers would be without one of their top defenseman for their clash with the Tampa Bay Lightning.

As the Rangers hit the ice for warm ups, it was evident that #79 was missing from the jerseys out on the ice and, with K'Andre Miller having missed Sunday's practice, some fans began to fear the worst. Unfortunately, those fears have now been confirmed with the Rangers officially announcing that Miller will miss tonight's game against the Lightning due to an illness.

Miller had seen an uptick in ice time over his last two games with the 25 year old blue liner eating up 22 minutes and 4 seconds of ice time against the Minnesota Wild and 23 minutes and 21 seconds of ice time against the New Jersey Devils. Miller also picked up a goal and an assist over that stretch, so there's no denying this is a big blow at the worst possible time for this Rangers team.

Stepping in for Miller tonight will be Rangers defenseman Zac Jones who has only appeared in 42 games for the Rangers this season. Jones has one goal and 10 assists for a total of 11 points on the season and boasts a plus minus rating of +1 over those 42 games.