Will Borgen’s Rangers injury forces Mike Sullivan to keep shuffling

BOSTON — As the Rangers took on the Bruins Friday afternoon, Will Borgen missed his fifth straight game due to an upper-body injury. 

The 28-year-old defenseman, who was placed on injured reserve this past weekend, has now been sidelined in seven of the Blueshirts’ last eight contests. 

As a result, Scott Morrow drew back into the Rangers lineup for the fourth time this season.

The rookie blueliner skated on the third pairing alongside Matthew Robertson, while the top four of Vladislav Gavrikov-Adam Fox and Carson Soucy-Braden Schneider remained intact. 

That bumped Urho Vaakanainen from the defense, making the Finn a healthy scratch for the eighth time this season.

Vaakanainen missed two other games with a lower-body injury earlier this month. 

Head coach Mike Sullivan opted to make one tweak to the top six, swapping J.T. Miller and Will Cuylle. 

The Rangers captain lined up on the top unit next to Mika Zibanejad and Alexis Lafreniere.

Cuylle then slotted on the wing of Vincent Trocheck and Artemi Panarin. 

Conor Sheary, who appeared in the first 24 consecutive games, was a healthy scratch for the second straight matchup. 

In his 20th start of the season, Igor Shesterkin stopped 19 of the 21 shots he faced in his 10th victory. 

With Jonathan Quick unavailable on injured reserve with a lower-body injury, Sullivan wouldn’t say if rookie goalie Dylan Garand would play in the second game of the back-to-back Saturday afternoon against the Lightning at Madison Square Garden. 

“We’ll take each day as it comes,” Sullivan said. 

The Rangers faced a shorthanded Bruins team Friday afternoon at TD Garden. 

David Pastrnak, Charlie McAvoy, Pavel Zacha and Matej Blumel were all out.

Though Pastrnak and Zacha are considered day-to-day, Blumel is expected to be sidelined long term. 

After taking on Tampa, the Rangers will have the day off on Sunday.

They are back in action on Tuesday night against the Stars at the Garden.