Rangers wing Alexis Lafreniere's play has improved since moving to left side

GREENBURGH – For the first three years of his career, Alexis Lafreniere never could get away from the same question, which was asked constantly of him:

Left or right?

The Quebec native had been a left wing his entire hockey life before the Rangers chose him with the first overall pick in the 2020 NHL draft. But Artemi Panarin and Chris Kreider owned the left wing spots on the top two lines when Lafreniere joined the team, so the question to him was always whether he could make the switch from left to right, in order to get ice time on one of the team’s top two lines.

Coaches David Quinn and Gerard Gallant both gave Lafreniere cursory looks on the right side his first three years, but both mostly preferred to keep him on the left, and in a third-line role. It wasn’t until Peter Laviolette arrived last season that Lafreniere got moved full time to the right side. It worked out well. Playing with Panarin and Vincent Trocheck, Lafreniere put up career highs in goals (28), assists (29) and points (57).

But when the Rangers played the Calgary Flames Tuesday night at the Garden, the 6-2, 196-pound Lafreniere was back at left wing for the fourth straight game, after Laviolette changed up the forward lines during the Rangers’ most recent road trip. He moved left wing Will Cuylle to the right of Panarin and Trocheck, and put Lafreniere on the left with J.T. Miller and Mika Zibanejad.

And the way things have gone in the early going, it seems like he could be there a while.

“Since I've been here, [Lafreniere]'s been on the right, [but] I really liked the lines last game [against Minnesota],’’ Laviolette said Saturday, before the Rangers’ game against Columbus. “I thought there was some good chemistry. So we'll leave that alone.’’

Lafreniere scored the opening goal in a 4-0 Rangers victory that night. It was his first goal in six weeks and ended a 14-game drought.

“It's been good, obviously, playing with ‘Millsie’ and Mika,’’ he said Tuesday after the Rangers’ morning skate at their Westchester County practice facility. “They're both really good two-way players, so it's just trying to keep up with them.’’

The early numbers for the Lafreniere-Miller-Zibanejad line were promising. In 28 minutes and 37 seconds together at five-on-five, no goals were scored for either team, and the shots on goal were even (6-6). But the Rangers had produced 28 shot attempts, compared to 17 for their opponents. Scoring chances were 12-5 while they were on the ice. High-danger chances were 5-1 in favor of the Rangers, and expected goals were 1.21 for the Rangers vs. 0.31 for opponents.

And what made it all the more impressive was that the trio has done this while generally being matched against the opponents’ top line.

Individually, Lafreniere had a goal and an assist and was a plus-3 with five shots on goal in the three games before Tuesday. And though his season has been up-and-down, at best, he preferred to focus on the possibilities going forward.

He had started fast, with four goals and three assists in the season’s first seven games, and the start earned him a seven-year, $52.15 million contract extension that kicks in next season. But he didn’t keep up the pace after the start. Entering Tuesday, he had 15 goals, 38 points and a minus-14 rating (second-worst on the team) in 68 games.

“Yeah, I mean, it's been a good start, and then it's not been the best [season], I think,’’ he said. “But there's still [14] games to play well and [try] to make the playoffs, and have a good end of the year.’’

Notes & quotes: Laviolette scratched forward Brennan Othmann and inserted Juuso Parssinen. “He’s done some good things for us,’’ Laviolette said of Othmann. “There’s been some things that we look for more from him, that we show him and work with him, both on the offensive side of the puck and the defensive side of the puck… I wanted an opportunity to get a young player back in there in Parssinen and there’s a chance for maybe Othmann to reset and regroup and wait for his next opportunity.’’ … The Rangers announced that forward Arthur Kaliyev will miss the rest of the season and the playoffs with an upper-body injury… The team signed forward Noah Laba, a fourth-round pick in 2022, to a two-year entry-level contract. Laba, 21, will report to AHL Hartford and play the rest of the season there on an amateur tryout contract. He had 10 goals and 16 assists in 29 games for Colorado College this season.

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.