COLUMBUS, Ohio — Goalie Igor Shesterkin suffering an upper-body injury just as the NHL is set to break for its 4 Nations Face-Off tournament is the kind of fortuitous timing the Rangers badly need. 

There are no ideal injury situations, but if there were, this would be it. 

Shesterkin is expected to be sidelined for 1-2 weeks, which — if all goes well — projects the star Russian netminder to be ready to return by the conclusion of the international tournament. 

Since there is no Team Russia competing in Montreal and Boston, Shesterkin will get to reap the benefits of the hiatus from regular-season game action. 

“You don’t like to see that, I don’t want to see any of our players go down with injury,” head coach Peter Laviolette said before the Rangers’ 4-3 win over the Blue Jackets on Saturday night. “There is a little bit of time coming up here, that’s useful. There’s no games being played so that’s a useful thing.” 

In the best-case scenario, Shesterkin would only have to miss Saturday’s contest, the final game before the 4 Nations recess.

The Rangers are then set to return to game action for a back-to-back slate on Feb. 22-23 in Buffalo and Pittsburgh. 

So the Rangers were forced to recall Dylan Garand from the Hartford Wolf Pack to back up Jonathan Quick for the second time this season. 

Garand also dressed on Dec. 8 against the Kraken, when Shesterkin’s wife went into labor, as well as once last season on Nov. 9 against the Wild, when both Quick and Shesterkin were injured. 

Shesterkin presumably sustained his injury in the 3-2 loss to the Penguins on Friday night at Madison Square Garden, after the 29-year-old flexed his right wrist following a goalmouth scramble late in the second period. 

A trainer came out to look at Shesterkin, but he still finished the game and stopped 23 of the 26 shots he faced as he fell to 18-19-2. 

Shesterkin has already had some injury trouble this season. 

After suffering an upper-body injury at the end of December, Shesterkin was placed on injured reserve and missed four games from Jan. 2-7.

The Blueshirts went 2-1-1 over that span, with third-stringer Louis Domingue picking up a win over the Blackhawks on Jan. 5. 

The end of January wasn’t the best and the start of February hasn’t been the strongest for Shesterkin, who has given up four or five goals in three of his past five starts. 

Of the 45 NHL goalies who played at least three games from Jan. 25 to Feb. 7, Shesterkin’s .835 save percentage is the second worst, ahead of only his former teammate and current Sharks goalie Alexandar Georgiev (.825). 

His 3.84 goals-against average was also the fifth worst before Saturday’s slate of games. 

Of course, the Rangers as a team have gone 2-4 over that span and haven’t provided the easiest of conditions in front of him.

There were some unfortunate bounces and tough screens to fight through in their 3-2 win over the Bruins, but Shesterkin hasn’t been on his A game. 

The break could not only serve as an opportunity for Shesterkin to heal, but also reset.