WINNIPEG – The Rangers got the news they were hoping for Friday night when center Derek Stepan, one of their best two-way players, returned from a 10-game injury absence.
“I’m hour-by-hour,” Stepan joked, before Alain Vigneault confirmed his alternate captain’s presence in the Blueshirts’ lineup against the Winnipeg Jets at the MTS Centre.
Stepan, 25, is a crucial part of the Rangers’ locker room leadership and its on-ice execution, and the latter has deteriorated severely during a 3-7-2 skid that began one game before Stepan broke two ribs on Nov. 27 in Boston.
“Anytime we didn’t have a five-man forecheck we couldn’t get the puck back,” a frustrated Rick Nash said after Thursday night’s 5-2 loss to the Minnesota Wild.