Gerard Gallant shuffled the Rangers lines, sending Artemi Panarin to the third line. Panarin has been invisible all series, and quite frankly aside from his OT winner last year, has been invisible for the last two playoff runs. He’s been wildly disappointing when it comes to the 16 game season, so his removal from the top six is well deserved.
New lines at todays #NYR practice:
Kreider – Zib – Tarasenko
Laf – Trocheck – Kane
Panarin – Chytil – Kakko
Vesey – Goodrow – Motte— Vince Z. Mercogliano (@vzmercogliano) April 28, 2023
That said, this may be more of a kick in the pants for Panarin, who has likely never seen his name off the top six in his career. He’s not the only one to blame, but as an $11.6 million superstar, he’s the one that will get the brunt of the blame. He’s not the only reason why the Rangers are struggling, but he’s certainly a reason, especially since the issues are on offense, not defense.
I wouldn’t take too much stock in these lines. Gallant could simply be sending a message to his players before going back to what worked in Games 1 and 2.
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