Artemi Panarin didn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings, but he couldn’t help it.
The Rangers forward broke into a big smile when he was asked if he was happy to rejoin Ryan Strome.
“Of course,” he said through a translator. “I mean, it’s obviously nice to come back and work with him.”
The Rangers’ 3-2 shootout victory on Monday night over the Kings started with Panarin joining All-Stars Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad in a potentially explosive trio that had powered them to a 7-3 win over the Coyotes in their previous game.
Coach Gerard Gallant didn’t guarantee the new line would last too long, and it didn’t. He made the change, returning Panarin to the line next to Strome and Barclay Goodrow. That trio produced the game-tying goal in the third period Monday on Goodrow’s eighth goal of the year on a night when the Rangers didn’t produce much at even strength.
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“I had an idea [it wouldn’t last],” Gallant said. “If it would’ve started off real good, then I would’ve probably left it alone. But I had an idea. … I sort of left the door open.”
It will be interesting to see what Gallant does when the Rangers get healthy. Right now, forwards Kaapo Kakko (upper-body) and Filip Chytil (lower-body) are out, leading the coach to mix and match with his lines. When Kakko does return, it could come down to him or Goodrow on the right wing of the Panarin-Strome line, although it appears Kakko could be out for a while.
If Panarin had his choice, the 30-year-old Russian clearly would like to stay on the line with Strome. He’s not used to playing on the right side, as he did initially on Monday.
“Kreider and I, we had a little bit of a mixup,” said Panarin, who had two assists on Monday and has 45 points (11 goals, 34 assists) in 38 games this season. “I’ve never really played on the right flank before, but it was a good experience. The situation is that you instinctively go to your wing and you see the number 20 right in front of you.”
He added: “I kind of don’t want to give Mika and Kreider the wrong impression. I don’t want to hurt their feelings a little bit.”
But it’s clear Panarin feels most comfortable on the left side with Strome, who will be a free agent following the season. Panarin’s experience with Kreider and Zibanejad is limited. According to Natural Stat Trick, they played just 11:04 last season and just 47:04 this season entering the game Monday.
The trio didn’t click against the Kings, leading Gallant to make a change that enabled the Rangers to eventually earn two points in the shootout.
“It’s not about one line,” Gallant said. “Whatever makes us better — and [pairing Panarin with Kreider and Zibanejad] made us better [against the Coyotes] — so we’ll see where it goes.”
It didn’t go very far on Monday, and Gallant adjusted. In doing so, he made one of his best players happy.
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