Rangers' Kaapo Kakko misses Saturday's game with upper-body injury

There was a day last week, when he was talking about how best to fill the troublesome right wing spot on the Rangers’ second line, that coach Gerard Gallant was asked how he thought things were going on the first line, the one with Mika Zibanejad, Chris Kreider and Kaapo Kakko.

"Well, obviously the top two guys on that line have had an outstanding year so far,’’ Gallant said. "One (Kreider) is going to the All-Star game with 20-some goals, and Mika's been outstanding in the last number of games.

"Kaapo's -- the numbers aren't there, but he's playing good defensive hockey,’’ he continued. "So, they’ve played well. They've been a big, big part of our team, obviously, winning. But when we win, it's about our team. It's not about one line.’’

The natural follow-up question was whether Gallant thought Kakko, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2019 draft, was carrying his weight enough to still belong on that line.

"As long as we're winning and we're playing well, I'm happy with him right where he's at,’’ he said.

Fast forward to Friday night in Raleigh, N.C., against the Carolina Hurricanes. The Rangers didn’t win, and they didn’t play well. And in the second period, when the Rangers were in the process of falling behind 5-1 on the way to a 6-3 loss, Gallant did move Kakko off the top line, temporarily. He switched the 20-year-old Finn with 35-year-old enforcer Ryan Reaves, putting Reaves up on the first line and dropping Kakko down to the fourth line.

"I just wanted to get a big body up there (on the top line),’’ Gallant said when asked about the switch. "It’s nothing Kakko did, you know what I mean? I wouldn't pick on one player tonight. There was a lot of them (who didn’t play well).’’

Of course, Kakko, at 6-3, 205, has a big body. Reaves, who had his first two goals of the season in Wednesday’s 6-3 win over Toronto, is 6-2, 225.

(Kakko skated with the first line in warmups but the Rangers announced shortly before Saturday night's game that he was scratched and is day-to-day with an upper-body injury. Dryden Hunt took his place.)

Kakko, for all his responsible defensive play, his ability to win puck battles on the boards, and to hold possession in the offensive zone, simply has not scored as much as he or the team would like. Entering Saturday night’s game at Madison Square Garden against the Arizona Coyotes, Kakko had five goals and nine assists in 37 games. And he had gone 12 straight games without scoring a goal, going back to Dec. 15, when he had two against the Coyotes in the first meeting between the teams, in Glendale, Ariz.

Gallant, though, has few legitimate options to play right wing on his top two lines. On Friday, Hunt was on the second line with Artemi Panarin and Ryan Strome. He has three goals and four assists in 36 games. Alexis Lafreniere, the 2020 No. 1 overall pick, played one game at right wing on the recent West Coast road trip, before he went into COVID protocol, but he’s a natural left wing on the third line. Filip Chytil, a natural center, has been playing right wing for the past three games, but he was on the third line, with Lafreniere and Barclay Goodrow, on Friday. Julien Gauthier, a natural right wing, has two goals in 28 games and was a healthy scratch Friday.

Reaves (Two goals, seven assists in 34 games) took a few turns with Zibanejad and Kreider, but on his first shift in the third period with them, he was unable to catch up to a pass from Kreider as the Rangers tried to break out of the defensive zone. The play ended up as an icing call. The next time the top line was on the ice, Kakko was on it, instead of Reaves.

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.