Gerard Gallant makes changes, puts Kid Line back together

Rangers coach Gerard Gallant was a little grumpy after his team’s loss to the Bruins on Thursday night. He had some critical words for his second line, which he had tweaked during the game because he said he was unhappy with its defensive work.

So when the Rangers went back to work Saturday with an open practice at Madison Square Garden, it was no surprise to see that Gallant had broken up that second line — and in fact had changed all the lines.

Artemi Panarin, who was added to the All-Star roster Thursday night, was bumped up to the first line to play with Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider. Center Vincent Trocheck got two grinding, straight-line wingers in Jimmy Vesey and Barclay Goodrow. Vitali Kravtsov was dropped to the fourth line.

Oh, and the Kid Line — Alexis Lafreniere, Filip Chytil and Kaapo Kakko — was back together.

“They’re always coming back to my line,’’ Chytil joked about having Lafreniere and Kakko on his wings again. “I say it all the time, we have good chemistry, we know each other. So nothing new for us.’’

“When I saw the [practice] jerseys this morning, I was like, ‘I don’t have to even talk with them,’ ’’ Kakko said with a grin. “What they do out there, we already know. We’ve been playing so many games together. So it feels like, for us, there was just a couple of games [apart] and we are back again. So we know what to do.’’

This is the third time together this season for the Kid Line. They didn’t look so dynamic in their first time together but performed better the second time. As a unit, they have been on ice for 10 goals for and five against in 164:57 of five-on-five time this season, according to the analytics site Natural Stat Trick. They’ve outshot opponents 74-67.

Gallant was asked what the biggest news of all the changes was: Was it breaking up the second line of Panarin, Trocheck and Kravtsov? Was it putting Panarin and Zibanejad together? Or was it putting the Kid Line, which had been the Rangers’ most dynamic line in the playoffs last year, back together?

“All those things,’’ he said. “We were disappointed the other night [against Boston], we think we could have played better. And again, we played the best team in the league, and it was pretty even up. When we go back and watch it, it wasn’t as bad as I thought. But again, we gave them more than we should have. I’m just trying to make a little bit of balance and see where we go with it.

“I mean, it’s a lot of changes, but you know, we’re just trying to get the best lineup available to us, what we think.’’

Notes & quotes: Forward Julien Gauthier, who missed the last three games with an upper-body injury, skated in a regular full-contact jersey, which means he is likely to come off the injured list and return for Monday’s game against Florida. The Rangers also placed forward Jonny Brodzinski on waivers, presumably in order to return him to AHL Hartford once he clears . . . The players enjoyed the atmosphere of the open practice, which was attended by 6,500. “It’s a fun atmosphere,’’ K’Andre Miller said. “It made for one memorable, memorable practice.’’ The crowd sang Happy Birthday to Miller, who turned 23. “Love it,’’ he said of the gesture.

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.