Rangers defenseman Victor Mancini goes through the ups and down of pro hockey

EDMONTON, Alberta — Victor Mancini was getting ready for practice with the Hartford Wolf Pack on Friday, about to put his skates on, when he got the word.

“They told me, just pack your bag, go to your hotel, check out of that hotel,’’ Mancini said Saturday after the Rangers’ morning skate before their game against the Edmonton Oilers. “It was crazy, just with the weather. [There were a] few delays, but yeah, I ended up getting in to the hotel real late last night. About 3:30 [a.m.] is when I checked into the hotel.’’

Mancini planned to take a long pregame nap to get fully rested for the game, his first with the Rangers since Nov. 1. The 22-year-old defenseman was back in the lineup because Zac Jones, who had edged him out to claim the last of the six regular spots in the lineup, was out with what the Rangers said is an upper-body injury. The Rangers had sent Mancini down to Hartford on Nov. 13, so he’d been gone for only a little more than a week.

Getting recalled so soon was something of a surprise to him, Mancini said, but coach Peter Laviolette saw Jones’ injury as an opportunity to get Mancini back in the lineup for a night. He could have plugged veteran Chad Ruhwedel into Jones’ spot but preferred to have Mancini travel across the continent for a chance to play.

“He didn’t do anything to lose that [roster] spot,’’ Laviolette said. “[Ruhwedel]’s a good defenseman for us. He’s played well. But you know, the way it came out of camp, we were going with Vic at the time [until Jones established himself]. We didn’t just want [Mancini] sitting here doing nothing, so we sent him down to play games until we needed him again.’’

The 6-3, 229-pound Mancini, who came out of nowhere to win a roster spot in training camp, had a goal and three assists in nine games with the Rangers before getting sent down. He scored a goal in his first game with Hartford and wound up playing in three games with the Wolf Pack.

“I got a good bounce on that goal,’’ he said sheepishly. “I was looking for a back-door pass but definitely felt really happy that it went in the net.’’

Mancini, a fifth-round pick in the 2022 draft whose dad, Bob, is from Seaford and currently is the assistant executive director of hockey development for USA Hockey, said that when they sent him down, the Rangers told him to focus on what he was doing rather than where he was. He said they wanted him to work on keeping his confidence level high while handling the puck and to work on continuing to make plays, playing fast and defending hard.

Mancini said his focus was to do those things while he was with Hartford, but he tried to keep up with what was going on with the Rangers.

“It’s a balance of both,’’ he said. “Obviously, I want to focus on just taking it a day at a time . . . making sure that I’m doing all the right things in practices and in games no matter where I’m at. But I also try to keep track of where this team is and obviously supporting them in any way I can, no matter where I am. It’s been hard to stay up and watch the late-night games being on the Pacific Coast, but yeah, I like to keep up.’’

With Mancini, a righthanded shot, replacing Jones, a lefty, in the lineup, it meant the Rangers’ defense had four righthanders among their six defensemen. That meant righthander Braden Schneider had to shift from his natural right side over to the left. Schneider played the left side in all nine games in which Mancini played before he was sent down, seven partnered with Jacob Trouba and two with Mancini. He was paired with Mancini on Saturday.

“I think now that I’ve kind of got a couple games to feel for it, it’s — obviously you’re going to feel out the first few shifts and make sure that you’re playing simple and [skating] north,’’ Schneider said of playing the off side. “But I think once things get going and you get a feel for it again, it kind of comes naturally and you start playing on instinct. And that’s all it is.’’

Notes & quotes: Jonathan Quick (4-0, 0.91 GAA, .970 save percentage, two shutouts) got the start in goal. Igor Shesterkin took a shot from Reilly Smith up high and briefly left the morning skate but returned. Laviolette said the plan had always been to start Quick, who recorded shutouts in his previous two starts, and that Shesterkin getting hit in practice had nothing to do with the decision . . . Filip Chytil (upper-body injury) skated with the extras again and did not play.

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.