Stepan Sits Out Practice After Negative X-Rays, Unclear For Saturday

Derek Stepan went down to block a shot during the third period against the Carolina Hurricanes Thursday night and came up hobbling to the bench after taking it on the ankle.  Stepan missed practice today, and according Andrew Gross at Ranger Rants had x-rays on the left ankle that came out negative.

"It's a little sore this morning, we're trying to help it," said Stepan. "I'll probably try to skate tomorrow. No, I will skate tomorrow. It was right on the bone but we took pictures (X-rays) and everything came back good. It was a weird spot, it was hard to get feeling in my feet. There was the puck in the zone and there was a lot of action but I couldn't put any weight on it. The swelling wasn't too bad, there was a little bit today but not too bad."

Not having Stepan available for Tampa Bay Tomorrow would obviously force some lineup changes, which is something you never want with the way the Rangers are going right now.  Hopefully Stepan will be better tomorrow and able to go as he has had signifcant chemistry with Marian Gaborik and been a key figure in the Rangers early season success.