Rangers' Kaapo Kakko 'not too happy' about being a healthy scratch

NASHVILLE — Two days after he was a surprising healthy scratch in Sunday’s game against the St. Louis Blues, Rangers forward Kaapo Kakko made it clear Tuesday he did not expect nor agree with coach Peter Laviolette’s decision to leave him out of the lineup for a game.
“I'm not too happy, I can say that,’’ Kakko said after the morning skate at Bridgestone Arena, before the Rangers’ game against the Predators.
”He just said he needs to do something. And that was me,’’ Kakko said, when asked about Laviolette’s message to him. “That's all we talked about. Nothing else.’’

Kakko, the No. 2 pick overall in the 2019 draft, has never lived up to expectations that he would be a star in the NHL, but he has proven to be a reliable two-way player and solid third-line winger. He entered Tuesday with four goals and 10 assists (14 points) and a rating of plus-10 (second-best on the team) in 29 games this season. And the line he has spent most of the season on, with center Filip Chytil and left wing Will Cuylle, has been on ice for 13 goals for, and 2 against in 184 minutes, 13 seconds on the ice.

“I think our line been still OK,’’ Kakko said. “We haven't been there really, when the other team scores some goals. I mean, we’ve not been the same, like earlier the year, getting goals, more chances, but I think the whole team's been kind of bad, and we've been losing games.

“I'm not, have not been the worst guy. But that was me who was out of the lineup."

Laviolette wouldn’t say what the gist of his conversations with Kakko have been, but he acknowledged that “it's OK [for Kakko] to be frustrated. It's OK to be upset. Everybody wants to play. I get that 100%."

“The decisions that I make are tough decisions,’’ he continued. “Our team, Kaapo … we need to play better. We're 3-10 in our last 13 games, and so that's not good enough. We need to play a better brand of hockey."

At the start of play Tuesday, the Rangers were outside of a playoff spot, with a 15-14-1 record and 31 points, one point behind Ottawa (15-13-2) and Philadelphia (14-13-4) for the last wild card spot in the Eastern Conference. Laviolette was asked if he had any concerns about his own job security.

“Those are things that I can't control," he said. “I've been in this a long time, and there's always, I think those conversations wherever you go, especially if you've been in it for a long time. My real concern, or main concern, is getting a win tonight, getting back on track, getting back into the playoff race. Those are the things that we need to control and stay focused on."

Including Tuesday’s game against 8-17-6 Nashville – which was tied with Chicago for last place overall – the Rangers had 52 games left in the regular season. So there is plenty of time to turn things around. But they have shown no signs of being able to do that so far, and against Nashville they were going to be without leading scorer Artemi Panarin for a second straight game because of an upper-body injury.

They traded their captain, defenseman Jacob Trouba, Dec. 6, and they were 2-4 since then, including a loss to Chicago on Dec. 9 at Madison Square Garden.

Against St. Louis on Sunday, Laviolette reduced the ice time of center Mika Zibanejad, who started the season as the No. 1 center but played on a third line against the Blues and logged a season-low 13:04 of ice time.

“It's probably no different than the conversation we just had when I was talking about Kap,’’ Laviolette said. “We need to play better. We're not playing well enough. We're not doing the things that we need to do in order to be successful . . . There's got to be more from our team in general, from the players you mentioned, from myself, from everybody. We're either going to accept where we're at, or we're going to fight like hell, to make a difference and move out of this."

Asked about his ice time last game, Zibanejad said, “I’m just focusing, honestly, on today. That happened and we have a new game today. So that's where I'm putting my energy and focus.’’

Blue notes

Defenseman Urho Vaakanainen, who was acquired from Anaheim in the Trouba trade, came off injured reserve and was set to make his Rangers debut. He replaced Connor Mackey, who was returned to AHL Hartford… Igor Shesterkin, pulled in his last start Saturday against L.A., got the start in goal.

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.