According to NHL.com, Rangers Captain Chris Drury is set to return to the lineup in Wednesday's game against the Florida Panthers. Drury has missed 5 full games and all but 49 seconds of the Calgary Flames game in which he was injured after a high hit by Calgary's Curtis Glencross.

The Rangers have struggled in those past 6 games, although the absence of center Brandon Dubinsky is also a factor. Despite what many Ranger fans think of Drury and his contract (See my previous article about Drury for further analysis), he is a great penalty-killer, something the Rangers have been looking a little sloppy on in his absence, going 83%. Hopefully the Rangers can feed off the momentum from their win against the Blue Jackets and Drury can contribute in the games.

[Note by Jim Schmiedeberg, 11/25/09 11:54 AM EST Andrew Gross has a story about Drury's return. (click link for full story)]

First, offense came from players besides Marian Gaborik and Vinny Prospal in Monday’s 7-4 win over the Blue Jackets, meaning the Rangers have a chance to win back-to-back games for the first time since Oct. 14-17. And captain Chris Drury will return to the lineup for the first time since suffering a concussion Nov. 7 at Calgary.