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| Richard Wolowicz/Getty Images |
I do not want to hit the panic button in terms of any
injury, but it is starting to feel necessary when it comes to Marc Staal and
his undisclosed injury that will keep him out for the second straight game
tonight. Rangers’ coach John Tortorella
is refusing to reveal the nature of the injury which is the smart move in terms
of preventing Staal from being targeted when he returns to the lineup, but you
have to wonder how soon that will be and at what level he will return.
The general assumption even if not officially disclosed is
that the injury for Staal is related his prior knee injury which he suffered
against Carolina a month ago and caused him to miss three games at the time. If he has re-aggravated the knee then things
could be relatively serious in terms of his effectiveness down the stretch and
in the playoffs. It also makes you
wonder at just how serious the first injury was when he probably pushed himself
to come back sooner than he should have and once again question the sheer
number of minutes he has been logging this year.
If this is injury is something that causes Staal to miss
significant time, is going to linger or becomes something that forces him think
on the ice about how it is going to react those are bad things for the Rangers
in crunch time. For now day-to-day is
ok, but until he starts at least skating again I will have my finger near the panic button because if the Rangers are going to have a chance they need 18 back there
patrolling the blue line and smashing down the opposing team’s top offensive
players.
