Struggling Artemi Panarin in good frame of mind heading into Game 7

GREENBURGH — Everything else had worked out perfectly for the Rangers in Game 6 of their first-round playoff series against the Devils at Madison Square Garden on Saturday.

First and foremost, the Rangers had won, 5-2, to force a Game 7 in New Jersey on Monday. Second, after struggling to get the puck past Devils rookie goalie Akira Schmid in the previous three games, the Rangers scored five goals and chased him from the net in the third period. And third, Mika Zibanejad finally got his first goal of the series, which no doubt lifted a weight off his shoulders.

The only thing that would have made the night more perfect would have been if Artemi Panarin also could have found his way onto the scoresheet. But he did not, and the Rangers’ leading scorer in the regular season still has a goose egg under the goals column on his playoff stat line.

Through the first six games of the postseason, Panarin has two assists, which came on the first two goals the Rangers scored in the series in their 5-1 victory in Game 1.

Panarin, one of three regulars to skate Sunday at the Rangers’ optional practice before the team headed to New Jersey for Monday’s game, was asked afterward if he felt better about his game Saturday night than he had the previous few games.

“No English,’’ Panarin said. And then he jokingly called for an interpreter.

Of course, Panarin speaks English well enough to have in-depth conversations and do off-camera interviews with the team’s beat reporters. And his wisecracks and one-liners routinely have those reporters producing belly laughs in the locker room. So his response wasn’t really about any kind of language barrier, but rather was just his lighthearted way of no-commenting about his lack of production in the series.

Rangers coach Gerard Gallant wasn’t concerned about Panarin and his goals total, though.

“The first six games don’t matter,’’ Gallant said. “It’s all about what we do tomorrow. Mika scored a big goal, and sure, it makes it feel good. Breadman can score that big goal tomorrow like he did in the Pittsburgh series [in overtime in Game 7 of the first-round series against the Penguins last year].

“He’s playing OK. I thought he played well last night. Six-on-five [after the Devils pulled the goalie late in Game 6], he’s on the ice and he made some real good plays there. So he’s working hard. That’s all I want. You know, work hard, compete hard. And when the time comes to get those goals, he’ll be around.’’

Gallant shuffled his forward lines in an effort to get the team going, and it seemed to work. Zibanejad had a new right wing in Vladimir Tarasenko, who had scored in each of the first two games but went the next three without a goal. And Zibanejad and Tarasenko (as well as the third member of the line, Chris Kreider) scored Saturday.

Panarin ended up with Filip Chytil and Kaapo Kakko as his linemates. They produced a total of seven shots on goal and each was plus-1. Only Chytil, who had an assist on Braden Schneider’s goal that made it 5-1, got a point, though. Panarin finished scoreless with three shots on goal in 19:31, which was the highest ice time for any Rangers forward.

He sounded pretty determined to do his best to do whatever is necessary to win Monday.

“Yeah, for sure,’’ he said. “Everyone will bring probably 200% tomorrow, because everyone understands [the situation]. Like I say, you have only two ways: Go home or keep going, keep playing hockey. So I’m sure everyone’s coming in the rink and is happy we’re there, and they’ll bring it, 100%.’’

Notes & quotes: Besides Panarin, Tarasenko and Vincent Trocheck were the only other regulars at the optional skate. Goalie Jaroslav Halak and the taxi squad of goalie Louis Domingue and defensemen Ben Harpur and Libor Hajek also took part. Forwards Jonny Brodzinski and Jake Leschyshyn were the other skaters . . . Kreider has played in eight Game 7s, more than any other current Ranger. The Rangers are 7-1 in those games . . . The Rangers are 11-6 in Game 7s and will play the Devils for the third time. The Rangers beat the Devils, 8-4, in the 1992 division semifinals and won, 2-1, in double overtime in the 1994 Eastern Conference finals.

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.