Rangers' Nash skates for 1st time in over a month

Rick Nash is slowly but surely on his way back to the New York Rangers' lineup.

The winger skated for 15 minutes in Pittsburgh on Thursday, marking the first time he's taken to the ice in more than a month as a result of a bone bruise on his left leg.

Nash admitted the injury has taken far longer to recover from than anticipated and expects to be back to game action in 10-to-14 days.

"I thought it was going to be a day-to-day thing, take a few days to get better; seemed like it was one of those injuries that had to get worse before it got better, and that was the case. We just took our time," he said after the skate, according to Steve Zipay of Newsday.

"I didn't do anything crazy, stops and starts, so it's going to be a bit of a process to get my legs back, my wind back, get my timing back. The big thing now is that hopefully there's no setbacks. Right now I'm focused on getting better each day and today was a great step."

Nash recorded 12 goals and 21 assists in 45 games for the Rangers prior to suffering the injury.