Rangers coach Peter Laviolette staying the course while team is winning

Now that the Rangers are whole again on defense, it doesn’t mean that things are automatically going to just go back to the way they have been.

The unexpected rise of rookie Victor Mancini, along with the injury to Ryan Lindgren, gave coach Peter Laviolette the opportunity to look at a few things over the first five games of the season, and apparently, the coach liked what he saw.

When Lindgren returned to the lineup Tuesday against the Montreal Canadiens, Laviolette didn’t put him back on the top pair, alongside his longtime partner, Adam Fox. Instead, the coach kept Fox with K’Andre Miller, with whom he’d been paired while Lindgren was on injured reserve, and then also chose to keep together the all-righthanded pair of Jacob Trouba and Braden Schneider.

And on Thursday, when the Rangers returned home to face the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers, Laviolette kept the pairs the same as they had been on Tuesday.

“There's no real plan for me to change things right now,’’ Laviolette said at the Rangers’ morning skate at their Westchester County practice facility. “That doesn't mean I won't… but right now I like the way it looks.’’

That means the longtime partnerships of Lindgren-Fox and Miller-Trouba – who have made up the top four on the Rangers’ defense for the past four seasons – are broken up for now, as Laviolette has chosen to keep Miller and Fox (“they’re two high-end players,’’ the coach said) together.

Lindgren, who missed all but one half of a period of the preseason and the first five games of the regular season following surgery to repair his jaw after a fight with Islanders defenseman Scott Mayfield, admitted it was “a little weird’’ not playing next to Fox. The two have partnered with each other for almost the entire five years they’ve both been in the NHL, and before that, they were partners on the U.S. National Team Development Program squad.

“We've been together the last five years or whatever,’’ Lindgren said. “But it is what it is.’’

Miller and Fox had produced great analytics together entering Thursday. In 84 minutes, 10 seconds together at 5-on-5 over the first six games, the Rangers had outscored opponents 4-2, outshot them 53-30, generated 60 scoring chances for, compared to 32 against, and had 32 high-danger chances for, compared to 15 against. Their expected goals for were 7.26, compared to 3.11 expected goals-against.

And with Schneider growing more comfortable and confident with each game played on the left side with Trouba, that pair had good numbers, too (7-2 in goals scored vs. goals conceded; 63-46 in shots for/shots against; and 6.28 expected goals for, vs. 4.49 against).

“I feel like each game, I'm figuring out the spots that you want to be in on the ice, and (the spots) that you don't want to be in,’’ said Schneider, who has two goals this season, including one in Tuesday’s game at Montreal. “And I think we've done a good job. Troubs has been a great partner to play with, and I think we've done a good job at just keeping things at bay, and creating offensively… I feel like I'm finding a lot more ways on that (left) side to get some more shots through, and I think that's a big thing.’’

“I like the pairs the way that they've (been set up),’’ Laviolette said. “Even ‘Lindy’ coming back and playing with Mancini, that's a good veteran player playing with a young player… Lindy came back and gave us some good minutes, and I think it'll only get better as he fits into a game more.’’

After the skate, the Rangers placed defenseman Chad Ruhwedel on waivers, leaving them with seven defensemen on the roster (Zac Jones is the seventh). If Ruhwedel clears waivers, he’ll likely be assigned to AHL Hartford.

Blue notes

Forward Jimmy Vesey, who has been on long term injured reserve with a lower-body injury, skated with the team for the first time in the morning skate, wearing a green (no-contact) jersey.

“It's part of the progression, the next step in his long road back,’’ Laviolette said. “And so that was good to have him out there. He looks good.’’ Vesey missed his seventh game to start the season Thursday. He has to miss at least three more before he is eligible to return to the active roster… Igor Shesterkin got the start, his sixth in the first seven games… Jones and forward Matt Rempe were the healthy scratches.

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.