PHILADELPHIA — The Bronx will be home to a Winter Hockey Festival next January in the week preceding the Super Bowl.
The Post has confirmed the original TSN report that Yankee Stadium will be the home to a pair of outdoor games, both metro-area affairs, as the NHL expands to a half-dozen such contests.
The first will be the Battle of the Hudson between the Rangers and Devils on Sunday, Jan. 26. Then, three days later, it will be the Battle of New York between the Rangers and Islanders on Wednesday, Jan. 29.
This coincides with the Super Bowl that will be played at Met Life Stadium in New Jersey on Feb. 2.
The Rangers played in last season’s Winter Classic in Philadelphia, defeating the Flyers 3-2. Yankee Stadium is unavailable to play host to the Winter Classic because of the contract through 2013 with The Pinstripe Bowl that is played in late December.
The series of six games will begin with the Red Wings-Maple Leafs Winter Classic on Jan. 1, 2014 in Ann Arbor. The Kings and Ducks will meet at Dodger Stadium on Jan. 25.
Then, following a presumed break for the Olympics, the Penguins and Blackhawks will play at Soldier Field in Chicago on March 1 before the carnival concludes at BC Place in Vancouver with a match between the Canucks and Senators.
* Marc Staal, who has missed 21 games — half the season — since suffering his severe right eye injury on March 5, skated in a non-contact jersey at yesterday’s morning optional before the Rangers’ 4-2 loss to the Flyers, but the defenseman’s return does not appear imminent.
Derek Dorsett, acquired from Columbus with Derick Brassard and John Moore in the exchange for Marian Gaborik at the April 3 deadline and who has been sidelined since sustaining a broken clavicle in a Jackets-Canucks match on March 7, skated for the second straight day and first time with his Rangers teammates.
The 26-year-old winger, who has not been cleared for contact, remains optimistic he will be able to return during the first-round of the playoffs, should the Rangers qualify. The tournament is scheduled to commence on April 29 or April 30.