Adam McQuaid’s injury may lead to Tony DeAngelo’s 2nd chance

CHICAGO — The opportunity for Tony DeAngelo might be coming sooner rather than later.

The Rangers’ righty-shooting defenseman was a healthy scratch Thursday night for the sixth straight game and the eighth time in the team’s first 10 as the Blueshirts lost 4-1 to the Blackhawks at United Center.

But another righty-shooting blueliner, Adam McQuaid, did not return for the second period with what the Rangers called a lower-body injury.

The severity of the injury was not immediately available, with coach David Quinn saying, “It’s too early to tell right now.”

DeAngelo, 23, has been a bit of a conundrum thus far for Quinn, who keeps saying that he needs to see more in practice from the offensively talented player.

The Rangers have Friday off in California, where they will practice on Saturday before a Sunday afternoon contest at the Kings, the start of three games in the Golden State.

Asked if the Rangers need to call up another defenseman for the rest of the trip, Quinn said, “I don’t know enough right now to comment on that in any way.”

Forward Matt Beleskey cleared waivers and was sent to AHL Hartford. Every team in the league had a chance to pick up the 30-year-old with one more year left on his deal after this one, carrying an annual salary-cap hit of $1.9 million.

(Half of his $3.8 million salary was retained by the Bruins when they tacked him on the deal that sent Rick Nash to Boston at last season’s trade deadline.)

Beleskey was fully recovered from the shoulder injury, which he suffered in an exhibition fight. While he is in the minors, his cap hit for the Rangers is $875,000.

Goalie Henrik Lundqvist was terrific in stopping 33-of-36 shots, and said he was physically fine after a minor neck tweak a few days ago, which was part of the reason he backed up Alexandar Georgiev for Tuesday’s 5-2 win over the Panthers.

Lundqvist also came up holding his left elbow after a jam-shot from former teammate Artem Anisimov in the third period, but brushed that off as well.

As for the goaltending schedule in California, with no back-to-back games, Quinn said, “It really is game-by-game. That’s how we handle it.”

This was the first time Quinn dressed the same 18 skaters for back-to-back games, which meant winger Vinni Lettieri was a scratch. The shoot-first winger had played seven of the first eight, but had yet to put up a point.

“He’s got to be a little bit better, for sure,” Quinn said of the 23-year-old. “But these other guys have played well, too. I think there’s healthy competition. Sometimes it’s not so much what you’re not doing, but it’s what other people are doing. That can happen.”

Forward Filip Chytil played in his 10th game of the season, meaning the first year of his entry-level contract has begun.