Gerard Gallant continues to juggle Rangers' lines

Gerard Gallant doesn’t want to change his lines as much he has this season. But, the Rangers coach said, he’s had no choice.

"You change them up because you have to,’’ he said before his team closed out its pre-All-Star break schedule Tuesday at Madison Square Garden with a game against the NHL’s top team, the Florida Panthers.

"Guys are out of the lineup, and you're trying to mix and match,’’ he said. "And when you lose [Kaapo] Kakko and you lose Fil [Chytil] … you have different line combinations. So you try and make something work, make something fit. And it’s a work in progress.’’

The absence of Kakko (six games missed with an upper-body injury) and Chytil (five games missed with a lower-body injury) has forced Gallant to figure out how to replace his first-line right wing and his third-line center. At practice on Monday, it appeared he would have Chytil back, as the 22-year-old Czech took a regular turn, skating between left wing Alexis Lafreniere and right wing Julien Gauthier.

But Chytil didn’t play Tuesday, and so Gallant had to switch to Plan B, which had him move Lafreniere, a natural left wing, to the right wing on the top line with Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider. Barclay Goodrow, who had skated in that spot in practice Monday, ended up starting out in what would have been Chytil’s spot, as the third line center, between Gauthier on the right and Morgan Barron on the left.

Gallant has tried Lafreniere a few times with Kreider and Zibanejad. He started the season that way, but with Kreider, also a left wing, playing on the right side for the first game or two. But Gallant soon switched things up, moved Lafreniere to the left wing on the third line, and started a parade of right wingers for Kreider and Zibanejad. Sammy Blais, Goodrow, Kakko and even Gauthier and Artemi Panarin (also a natural left wing) have been among those who’ve taken turns on the top line.

But Lafreniere, who scored a goal on that line in Sunday’s 3-2 win over the expansion Seattle Kraken, sounded as if he would appreciate an extended look with the top line.s

"I really like playing with Mika and Kreids,’’ Lafreniere said at practice Monday. "They’re two All-stars in the league, so it’s really fun.’’

Lafreniere had gone nine straight games without a goal or an assist before he scored Sunday off the rebound of a shot by Zibanejad – the puck went off the post, hit Lafreniere in the midsection and bounced in – and the 20-year-old said the team gave him a little razzing about that.

"Yeah,’’ he said with a laugh. "It wasn’t the prettiest goal, but I’ll take it.’’

The issue with Lafreniere on the top line is that he and Kreider are both left wings, and with the year Kreider is having – he’s the Rangers’ lone All-Star representative, and was tied with Edmonton’s Leon Draisaitl for the NHL lead in goals entering the game, with 31 – Lafreniere is the one who has to switch to the opposite wing. He’s confident he can do it.

"Of course. It’s a little change, but it’s nothing crazy,’’ he said. "I’m good enough to adjust and play on my right side, for sure.’’

Presumably, Kakko, an actual right wing, will be able to come back when the Rangers play their next game, Feb. 15 against Boston. But the Panarin-Ryan Strome line has been searching for a right wing, too. Dryden Hunt played with those two on Tuesday, but he entered the game with three goals and five assists in 41 games, so that spot could be available, too.

By Colin Stephenson

colin.stephenson@newsday.comColinSNewsday

Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.