Artemi Panarin's four-goal game ignited by Rangers' line switch

With 3:23 remaining in the second period in Raleigh on Saturday night and the Rangers trailing Carolina by a goal, coach Gerard Gallant changed his line combinations, flipping Artemi Panarin and Chris Kreider.

Sorry, make that “genius” coach Gerard Gallant.

Don’t believe that? Here’s the call from MSG’s Sam Rosen after Panarin — playing with Vincent Trocheck and Jimmy Vesey — scored the equalizer with 2:11 left in the period.

“How ’bout that genius move?” Rosen exclaimed. “The coach puts Panarin with Trocheck and Panarin scores. Game tied, 2-2.”

The goal was Panarin’s 200th. But he wasn’t done — not by a long shot.

Panarin untied it at 4:33 of the third and went on to score twice more for the first four-goal game of his career. The Rangers beat the Metropolitan Division-leading Hurricanes, 6-2, to win their fifth in a row to start a four-game road trip that continues on Wednesday in Vancouver.

Gallant, who moved Kreider onto a line with Mika Zibanejad and newly acquired Vladimir Tarasenko, didn’t take too much credit for his midgame tinkering. He said he thought the Rangers had looked “stale” in the second period.

“It’s not like I was putting a fourth-line guy or an extra guy in the second line,” Gallant said.

Gallant moved Panarin off the line with his pal Tarasenko, who had a quiet night in his second game since the Rangers picked him up from St. Louis in part to play with his fellow Russian.

Said captain Jacob Trouba: “Gonna trade for more Russians. I can feel it. It’s great. I think everyone’s happy for [Panarin]. He’s a huge part of our team and it’s nice when you can score four.”

Panarin’s hat trick plus one gives him 16 goals this season.

“Four goals — first time in my life,” he said. “If I knew how to explain that, I [would] explain. I don’t know what happened tonight. It’s probably my day tonight. It’s a surprise.”

Asked if he was “feeling it” on Saturday, Panarin said: “Sometimes when I feel something, it’s zero points.”

It was five points for Panarin on Saturday. He also had an assist.

Will Panarin go back to his original line or will “genius” Gallant stay with the new grouping? The coach has a few days to ponder that before the Rangers play three games in four nights in Western Canada with visits to Edmonton on Friday and Calgary on Saturday.

“I’ve felt like I’ve played with everybody on this team at one point or another,” said Trocheck, who had two assists in his emotional return to Carolina, where he played the previous three seasons. “There’s no time where I’m going to be disappointed or upset. Everybody on this team has the ability to play great hockey.”

The Rangers, who ousted Carolina from the playoffs in Game 7 in Raleigh last season, are 2-0 against the Hurricanes this season with two regular-season meetings to go. “We played a good game against a real good team over there,” Gallant said. “They’re one of the best teams in the NHL.”

Right now, so are the Rangers. They are 20-4-3 since Dec. 5.

“As a team, we keep getting points,” said Jaroslav Halak, who stopped 27 shots to win his seventh start in a row. “That’s the most important thing this time of year.”

By Anthony Rieber

anthony.rieber@newsday.comAnthonyRieber

Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.