BUFFALO — Jimmy Vesey was the odd man out of the Rangers’ first lineup back from the 4 Nations Face-Off break.
After getting a run of four straight games before the regular-season pause, Vesey took warmups Saturday evening against the Sabres before ultimately watching the lopsided 8-2 loss from the press box as a healthy scratch.
It counted as the 16th time Vesey served as a healthy scratch this season.
The Rangers lineup looked pretty similar to the one they deployed just before the break.
“I do like it,” head coach Peter Laviolette said of the last game. “We’re coming out with three games in four days. We’re coming out off a break where we haven’t played in a while. We’re coming off a game where four of our guys have played extensively and a couple of the guys have played some, as well, through this break. When we did play the [last] back-to-back, the opponent played the night before, as well.
“So there’s things that factor into that. It was just a decision that we made for that game. I’m not saying that we will or won’t go back to it, but for that night it served a purpose. I also like the line when Mika was up there with J.T. [Miller] and [Artemi] Panarin. I thought that that was a real good line for us, and effective. I’m sure you’ll see that together this year.”
Miller centered the Rangers’ top line between Panarin and Reilly Smith, who was elevated off the fourth line.
Will Cuylle, Vincent Trocheck and Alexis Lafreniere made up the second unit, while Chris Kreider, Mika Zibanejad and Arthur Kaliyev skated on the third. Zibanejad had played some wing in the games before the break, but he was the third-line center in the final game in Columbus, too.
The fourth line featured Jonny Brodzinski, Sam Carrick and Matt Rempe.
After giving up a goal less than two minutes into the game on the way to a season-high five goals against in the first period, Laviolette began changing his lines early.
Zibanejad was bumped back up to the right wing of Panarin and Miller for a bit, which forced Brodzinski back into the middle of Kreider and Kaliyev.
Smith was also dropped down to the fourth line for shifts at a time, which is where he skated during the final game before the break.
There is an extensive injury report coming out of the Rangers’ AHL affiliate, the Hartford Wolf Pack.
Bo Groulx has been ruled out for the weekend and is considered week-to-week with an upper-body injury.
Defenseman Ben Harpur, who has struggled with injuries since joining the Rangers organization in 2022, has been classified as month-to-month with an upper-body injury.
Brandon Scanlin and Blade Jenkins are both day-to-day with upper-body injuries, while Erik Brannstrom is day-to-day with a lower-body injury.
Kaliyev skated in his 200th NHL game.
Zac Jones scored a goal in the first game of his conditioning assignment with the Hartford Wolf Pack.
The 24-year-old tied it up, 1-1, for his team on the way to their 6-5 win over the Providence Bruins.
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