Rangers achy to end

DEREK Stepan is a rink rat who never misses practice, but the Rangers center skipped Wednesday’s session in Greenburgh as a precaution after taking a brutal high hit from the Flyers’ Claude Giroux on Tuesday at Wells Fargo Center.

Giroux’s hit behind the play on the first shift of the third period had Stepan wobbling on the ice and aching on the bench before he returned to score and make it a one-goal game in a 4-2 Rangers loss. While the NHL didn’t schedule a disciplinary hearing with Giroux, the late hit likely will draw a warning call from VP of player safety Brendan Shanahan.

Not only is it inexplicable that Giroux’s hit was not penalized, but for the Rangers, they cannot afford to lose Stepan, their best all-around player this season.

The team said Stepan is OK but didn’t want to take any chances with games on Thursday and Friday and forward Brian Boyle out with a right leg injury, also suffered Tuesday.

The Rangers provided no update on Boyle’s condition, but called up winger Chris Kreider in case Boyle cannot play Thursday at the Garden against Florida.

Injured defenseman Marc Staal went through his first full practice since injuring his eye on March 5 but is not expected to play on Thursday.

The Rangers (21-17-4, 46 points) have six games left and a tenuous hold on the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. They trail the sixth-place Senators by four points, the seventh-place Is- landers by three points and are tied at 46 points with the ninth-place Winnipeg Jets, whom the Rangers lead with a game in hand that they also hold over the Isles.

“You try to stay positive,” Henrik Lundqvist said after Tuesday’s loss, realizing he has no room for error.

LUND DIES: Pentti Lund, 87, the first Finnish-born player to score a goal in the NHL and the 1948-49 rookie of the year with the Rangers, died Tuesday in his hometown of Thunder Bay, Ontario.