The New York Rangers will be without hard-hitting defenseman Jacob Trouba until after the All-Star break. Trouba was suspended for two games by the NHL after delivering an illegal elbow to Pavel Dorofeyev of the Vegas Golden Knights.

The incident took place in Friday night's game at Madison Square Garden between the two teams. After the two teams left the ice with the score tied 1-1 after the first period, the game changed dramatically in the second period when the Golden Knights scored a pair of goals. The Rangers seemed to grow frustrated at that point, and it spilled over in the form of Trouba delivering an elbow to Dorofeyev late in the second period.

Dorofeyev was unable to return to the game following the elbowing incident.

The Golden Knights would eventually come away with a 5-2 victory in the game, and the Department of Player Safety would issue the suspension Saturday.

The Rangers have a game Saturday night at Ottawa against the Senators, and Trouba will be forced to miss that game as well as the February 5 game against the Colorado Avalanche. The Rangers will hit the All-Star break following the game against the Senators.

Jacob Trouba is known for his physical play and he regularly delivers hard checks that appear to be on the edge of the rules. The right-shot defenseman has scored 3 goals and 16 assists in 48 games this season. He has 39 penalty minutes and a plus-2 rating this season.

The Rangers were one of the hottest teams in the Eastern Conference earlier in the season, but head coach Peter Laviolette has seen his team stumble to a 3-6-1 record in its last 10 games. Their once-comfortable lead in the Metropolitan Division is down to two points over the surging Carolina Hurricanes.