After dodging the injury bug for the first couple months, the New York Rangers lost their top center Derek Stepan on a hit by Boston Bruins forward Matt Belesky. The US olympian suffered broken ribs as he raised his arms to brace himself against the boards.
Three days later, defenseman and leading plus-minus player Kevin Klein strained his abdomen in a win against the Carolina Hurricanes.
Derek Stepan – file photo by Jack Lima
Since then, New York has gone 2-3-2. Both injured players have been skating and could return on Friday against the Winnipeg Jets.
“I would say Step is ahead of Kleiner at this time” remarked head coach Alain Vigneault, but after participating in a contact jersey at practice on Wednesday the two are very likely to be apart of Friday nights matchup. Vigneault joked around saying that fellow Canadians were teasing Klein, saying that Stepan (an American) was healing faster than he was.
Rangers are currently in second place in the Metropolitan division and third in the Eastern conference.
You must be logged in to post a comment.