Joonas Korpisalo takes 'big step' towards potential Rangers return

Joonas Korpisalo took another step towards his return to the Rangers. Korpisalo took the ice with the rest of the team during part of part of Friday's practice, marking his first session since going down with a lower-body injury. Head coach Mike Sullivan said that the abbreviated appearance was part of the team's "time management plan" but that it was still a big step for the veteran netminder. Korpisalo has been sidelined since the end of training camp with the lower-body issue. He was expected to serve as the Rangers' No. 2 goaltender to start the year, but instead landed on IR, and was expected to miss an additional four weeks at the time of Igor Shesterkin's injury. The veteran resumed skating last week, and finally made it back into a practice session. Korpisalo likely has a few more boxes to check off, but appears to be drawing closer and closer to making his debut between the pipes for the Blueshirts. Getting him back certainly would be a nice boost with rookie Dylan Garand struggling a bit handling the bulk of the workload since Shesterkin went down to his season-ending injury.