Rangers coach Peter Laviolette makes wholesale changes to lineup at practice

GREENBURGH — Sometimes, even when you win, it’s not enough to make you happy. The Rangers beat the Ottawa Senators, 2-1, on Friday night, and while coach Peter Laviolette was more than willing to take the two points, he clearly did not like the way his team played.

“We won the game,’’ Laviolette said after Saturday’s practice in advance of Sunday’s game against the Islanders. “That’s good. We’re in the game-winning business.

“But I think you have to look at the game as well sometimes, and if you think that it’s not going the way you want, there’s things that you can do. You can move the system a little bit. You can move the lines a little bit to try and shake it up.’’

After his team was outshot 87-37 in the last two games, Laviolette made wholesale changes to his lineup at practice Saturday, breaking up the top three lines and his top defense pair as well as splitting up the longest-running duo on the roster.

Laviolette broke up the nominal first line of Chris Kreider, Mika Zibanejad and Reilly Smith, and in doing so, separated Kreider and Zibanejad, who have been together almost the entire time since Zibanejad joined the team in a trade with Ottawa in 2016.

Zibanejad, who has struggled to produce offensively for the last year-plus, skated between wingers Artemi Panarin and Alexis Lafreniere, the team’s two top scorers this season. Kreider was placed on the left of center Filip Chytil — the team’s third-leading scorer — with Kaapo Kakko at right wing. Smith was put on a completely reconfigured second line with center Vincent Trocheck and left wing Will Cuylle.

The top defense pair of K’Andre Miller and Adam Fox also was dissolved. Fox was reunited with longtime partner Ryan Lindgren and Miller was reunited with former partner Jacob Trouba.

“We need to play better than what we’re playing right now,’’ Laviolette said. “We can’t rely on [goalie Igor Shesterkin] the way we’re relying on him right now.’’

Though the moves had the look of Laviolette trying to find a way to get No. 1 center Zibanejad going, the coach denied that.

Zibanejad, though, seemed to be looking forward to what he called an “opportunity’’ to play with Panarin, who leads the team with 16 points (seven goals, nine assists) and Lafreniere (five goals, five assists).

“It’ll be fun, and I’m excited for it,’’ he said.

Splitting up Kreider and Zibanejad was significant. After their longtime right wing, Pavel Buchnevich, was traded to St. Louis in 2022, the pair never seemed to be able to find the perfect replacement who would fit with them the way Buchnevich did.

When the Rangers traded for Smith during the summer, they hoped he would be the solution to filling that hole, but the trio has been just OK. Zibanejad and Smith have two goals and five assists each and Kreider has six goals (two of those on the power play, one shorthanded) and no assists. And lately, Laviolette had been giving more even-strength ice time to the Cuylle-Chytil-Kakko line than to them.

Zibanejad acknowledged that he hasn’t produced and said he might have been overthinking things.

“I think I definitely could have played better,’’ he said. “Yes, I want to produce offense. I want to produce points. I want to score goals. [But] I have to find the balance . . . If I look at my game, I think about defense even when we have the puck — just in case this turns over; just in case this happens — then I go back. So I think it’s just let loose and play, honestly. And [I’m with] two highly skilled guys offensively, so just try to take advantage of that as well.’’

Meanwhile, Trocheck, who had been centering for Panarin and Lafreniere, found himself off what had been one of the NHL’s best lines since it was put together last season. But he didn’t question the decision to break up the line.

“Things are not up to par with what we expect ourselves to be in the last two games, especially,’’ Trocheck said. “I think we’ve just been getting outplayed.

“Obviously, I love playing with those two [Panarin and Lafreniere]; they’re fantastic offensive players. But when a coach makes a decision to shake things up, there’s a reason behind it.

“I think there is a reason right now to try to light a fire under some guys’ butts. Hopefully this shake-up will get us moving in the right direction.’’

Notes & quotes: After practice, the Rangers assigned forward Matt Rempe to AHL Hartford. That indicates forward Jimmy Vesey will come off long-term injured reserve and is likely to be in the lineup Sunday. Vesey, who missed the first 10 games with a lower-body injury, practiced at right wing Saturday on the fourth line with left wing Adam Edstrom and center Sam Carrick.

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.