Groin injury to keep Nash sidelined another 2-3 games

PITTSBURGH — Scratch Rick Nash from the Rangers’ next game and almost certainly the one following that in the wake of the groin injury he sustained on the first shift of overtime in Sunday’s 3-2 shootout victory over the Devils.

“He obviously won’t play the next two and since we’re back from Christmas [recess] with a morning skate, it’s safe to say Rick probably won’t play in the next three,” coach Alain Vigneault said before Nash missed Tuesday night’s 7-2 thumping by the Penguins. “After that, it will be day to day, where we see how he reacts to treatment.”

Nash, who had been a dynamic force in his three games back in the lineup after missing four due to a separate groin injury he sustained in Brooklyn on Dec. 6, is thus expected to miss Friday’s Garden match against the Wild and the Dec. 27 contest at home against the Senators.

NHL teams are prohibited from practicing during the Dec. 24-26 hiatus. Vigneault has consistently held to the standard under which players returning from injury must participate in a full practice before reinstatement into the lineup.

On the cusp of his return last week from the previous injury that he said “might” have been caused by skating on soft ice at Barclays, Nash said that he’d never before had a groin problem. Now, he has had issues on both sides of the groin that are likely related.

“It was probably compensation and the lovely schedule we’ve had,” Vigneault said in linking this setback to the previous injury and the schedule under which the match against the Penguins marked the team’s ninth game in 15 nights.

Meanwhile, The Post has learned that Pavel Buchnevich, sidelined since Nov. 12 with back and core issues, skated on Monday for the first time since Dec. 5, and barring an unforeseen setback is on a soft timeline to return within a week or so following the Rangers’ bye week that runs from Jan. 8-12.

Buchnevichwill skate every other day for the foreseeable future before ramping up the process.

Mika Zibanejad, out since Nov. 20 with the broken leg the center sustained on the first shift of overtime in that night’s Garden shootout de- feat to the Panthers, remains on target for a mid-January return.

The Rangers are checking with the league to determine whether terms of the collective bargaining agreement would permit Zibanejad and Buchnevich to skate at the team’s practice facility during the mandated bye week.

Matt Puempel got his second goal and Michael Grabner his 14th. Grabner, who brought the Blueshirts within 3-2 early in the third period, had been foiled by Matt Murray on a pair of earlier breakaways.