Martin St. Louis sidelined 10 to 14 days with sprained knee
New York Rangers right wing Martin St. Louis looks on against the Philadelphia Flyers in the first period of an NHL game at Madison Square Garden on Saturday, Nov. 29, 2014. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
Winger Martin St. Louis, the Rangers' third-leading scorer, will miss 10 to 14 days with a lower-body injury, believed to be a sprained right knee.
The team did not specify the injury, but St. Louis left Sunday's game with 4:33 left in the third period after falling awkwardly and wrenching the knee in a puck battle with defenseman Dmitry Kulikov behind the Florida net.
There was no immediate word on a call-up from Hartford to replace St. Louis, 39, for Wednesday night's game against the Blackhawks at Madison Square Garden.
St. Louis' injury is the second to a regular in the past week. Defenseman Kevin Klein, who was struck in the left arm by a shot from Washington's Alex Ovechkin on Thursday, will miss three to four weeks. Coach Alain Vigneault said Klein is expected back for the playoffs.
St. Louis, who has 47 points, had been skating on a line with Derek Stepan and Chris Kreider and also on one power-play unit. He's averaging 17:35 per game and has five goals and 13 points with the man advantage.
Rick Nash, J.T. Miller and Jesper Fast are the other right wings. James Sheppard, who scored his first goal in three games as a Ranger on Sunday, could be an option.
The Rangers are expected to have forward Tanner Glass, who was scratched with "upper-body soreness" Sunday, in the lineup tomorrow.
St. Louis, who has 20 goals and 27 assists and has played in every game this season, has been remarkably durable in his 16 seasons in the NHL, playing at least 80 regular-season games 12 times.
After he arrived in the trade with Tampa Bay for Ryan Callahan last April, he played in 39 regular-season games and all 25 playoff games.
Notes & quotes: Cam Talbot was named the NHL's second star of the week after posting a 3-0 record with a 1.00 goals-against average and .969 save percentage. He was named the third star last week.
