Dan Girardi was able to skate on his own for a second straight day on Saturday morning, but the Rangers alternate captain was sidelined for the second straight game with the bruised/lacerated right ankle he sustained blocking a Ryan Getzlaf shot midway through the third period of Tuesday’s victory over the Ducks.
“Danny hopefully will be able to practice with the team on Sunday and it won’t be too much longer,” coach Alain Vigneault said before the Blueshirts’ 4-2 victory over the Avalanche at the Garden.
The Rangers are in Columbus on Monday for the first of a two-game trip that concludes Thursday in Brooklyn.
Girardi, credited with the fifth most blocked shots in the NHL with 132 through 49 games, has missed five games overall because of injury this season after having been sidelined for three matches in mid-October with a groin injury.
He had missed a total of four games because of injury through the first nine seasons of his career before being sidelined for eight games last year with a cracked kneecap and a concussion.
The 32-year-old’s absence meant Adam Clendening got his second straight opportunity on defense, the righty joining again with Marc Staal on the third pair while Nick Holden skated with Ryan McDonagh and Brady Skjei was teamed with Kevin Klein, who scored twice.
Brandon Pirri (fifth straight) and Matt Puempel (third) remained the healthy scratches up front for the Blueshirts.
Pirri had played in 48 of the first 50 games (and was a power-play staple) before leaving the lineup for the Feb. 2 match in Buffalo.
The Rangers matched the season-best five-game winning streak they established from Oct. 30-Nov. 6. They last won six in a row while reeling off nine straight from Oct. 25-Nov. 15, 2015.
Antti Raanta, likely to be in nets for Monday’s match against the Blue Jackets, has not started since Jan. 14 in Montreal, when he was forced out after 20 minutes with a lower body injury that placed him on IR through the All-Star break.
Raanta last played on Jan. 31 at the Garden against the Blue Jackets, surrendering three goals on 10 shots in 33:16 of relief. Raanta, who came into the game with the Rangers down 3-0 at the 3:42 mark of the second period, was hit with the loss because he yielded what proved to be the winning goal in the 6-4 defeat.
The Blueshirts had been awarded just two power-play advantages in their previous two games and just seven in their previous five, converting twice in that span. They went on the man-advantage three times — all in the first two periods — Saturday and failed to score, while generating two shots on goal.
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