Staal still not ready, sits out again

Marc Staal suffered what John Tortorella called "a little bit" of a setback when he tried to practice on Monday, and the Rangers defenseman sat out a third straight game last night with an injured left knee.

"We thought he was close, but it's just not right," Tortorella said. The Rangers have only Wednesday to practice before facing the Wild Thursday at home and the Senators on Friday in Ottawa, so Staal could end up missing a big chunk of games.

Also missing a second straight was Ruslan Fedotenko, who left Friday's win in Washington with a reinjured left shoulder. Fedotenko did practice on Monday, though, and Tortorella was optimistic Fedotenko would return Thursday.

Gaborik 'status quo'

Tortorella said Marian Gaborik, who missed his fourth straight game with a concussion, reported feeling better but still hadn't skated since Friday.

"It's status quo with him," Tortorella said.

A friend of Gaborik's told Newsday that the star winger still had headaches on Sunday, and any concussion symptoms would keep him off skates until he's completely healed.

Moving past Biron

Tortorella had no interest in rehashing goalie Martin Biron's broken collarbone, suffered Monday in practice. The Rangers had 23-year-old undrafted free agent Cam Talbot on the bench, backing up Henrik Lundqvist.

"It's a broken bone . . . moaning about it isn't going to heal it," Tortorella said. "We move on."

Biron is expected to miss the rest of the regular season. Talbot, who was signed last March, had an 8-3-2 record with a 2.42 goals-against average for Connecticut of the AHL before suffering a sprained ankle.