After getting an injury scare when his leading scorer, Artemi Panarin, and Panarin’s linemate, Andrew Copp, left Tuesday’s game with upper- and lower-body injuries, respectively, Rangers coach Gerard Gallant decided to make a few changes with his lineup for Wednesday’s game against the Montreal Canadiens at Madison Square Garden.
Mika Zibanejad, Chris Kreider and Jacob Trouba, all of whom had played in every game this season, were scratched, along with the top defense pairing of Adam Fox and Ryan Lindgren. For Zibanejad, sitting out ended his consecutive games played string at 184 games.
Kreider has 52 goals, and is two away from tying the franchise single-season record of 54 set by Jaromir Jagr in 2005-06.
