"Maintenance, lower body, day to day," Rangers coach Gerard Gallant said. "I think next week if it was this time, he'd be playing. We're being smart."
Kane did not practice Tuesday and was listed as having a maintenance day. He was one of two Rangers players, including defenseman Ben Harpur, who skated Wednesday morning, but he wasn't on the ice for longer than 10 minutes.
Kane has 10 points (five goals, five assists) in 16 games with the Rangers since they acquired him from the Chicago Blackhawks in a three-team trade on Feb. 28.
Jimmy Vesey moved up and took Kane's spot on the top line with Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider.
New York played 11 forwards and seven defensemen with the return of defenseman Ryan Lindgren, who missed six games and 17 of the past 18 with an upper-body injury.
He missed 11 straight games from Feb. 26-March 19, returned March 21 against the Carolina Hurricanes, but hasn't played since.
"Lindgren is full-go," Gallant said. "We took a long time with him and we made sure. We wanted to make sure he was ready to go. Last time he came back for one game and he wasn't quite ready, but we feel 100 percent."
