It sounds like Alain Vigneault saw enough positives in Tuesday’s strong final period to stick with his lineup changes.
The Rangers coach mixed up his lines in Tuesday’s 6-4 loss to the Blue Jackets, breaking up the Chris Kreider-Derek Stepan-Mats Zuccarello first line. He replaced Stepan with Mika Zibanejad, moved Stepan onto a line in between Rick Nash and Jimmy Vesey, and dropped Pavel Buchnevich to the fourth line with Oscar Lindberg and Matt Puempel.
It resulted in three goals in less than four minutes, including goals by Vesey and Kreider on the reconstituted top two lines.
“I was just mixing up the candies to see if I could get something going,” Vigneault said. “At the beginning [of the season], ‘Kreids’ and Mika had some good chemistry there, ‘Step’ and Nash have always played well together. It got us a little spark.”
Those lines remained intact during Wednesday’s practice. He wasn’t 100 percent certain they would remain that way for Thursday night’s game against the Sabres — he wanted to watch film of Buffalo’s game against the Canadiens on Tuesday before making a final decision — but it seems likely.
“I would say there’s a very good chance,” Vigneault said.
In his first game back after suffering from post-concussion symptoms that cost him nine games, defenseman Marc Staal said he felt his performance was “rocky.” But he was back on the ice on Wednesday for practice, feeling no ill effects.
“I felt better as the game went on,” Staal said. “A lot of time off, not a lot of practice time. It took awhile to get my legs. I feel better today. I’m looking forward to [facing the Sabres].”
While the Rangers have struggled at home at the Garden, Betebet dropping six of their last eight games, they have been solid on the road, winning six of seven, and have yielded just 18 goals in that stretch.
“We find a way to play a real strong game on the road,” Stepan said. “We got to find a way to be the same team on the road as at home.”
Goaltender Henrik Lundqvist will get the start against the Sabres after getting pulled in the second period of Tuesday’s loss to the Blue Jackets, Vigneault said.
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