Patrick Kane returns to Rangers' lineup

COLUMBUS, Ohio — After missing the previous two games with what the Rangers said was a lower-body injury, Patrick Kane was back in the lineup Saturday night for the Blueshirts’ 4-0 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets in their final road game of the regular season.

Kane, who has been bothered by a reported hip injury the last two seasons while playing for Chicago, said at the morning skate that he was “excited’’ to be back in the lineup. He believes it was important for him to return to the lineup before the playoffs begin April 17.

“Yeah, for sure,’’ he said. “I mean, realistically .  .  . there would have been no problem playing the last couple games. It’s just, kind of, where we’re at in the season, and with the schedule, and having some discussions, it kind of made sense to take off the back-to-back [Wednesday and Thursday], and then, you know, we have three games the rest of the way.‘’

Kane said he expects to play the last two games before the season ends. The Rangers close out the season with home games Monday against Buffalo and Thursday against Toronto.

Kane played on the top line with Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider and had three shots on goal. He picked up the second assist on Niko Mikkola’s goal, which made it 3-0.

“Every time you get a new linemate, you need some time,’’ Zibanejad said. “Sometimes it takes a little bit longer, sometimes it goes a little faster. This felt pretty good as a line with Kreids as well. We’ll try to build off of this and get better.’’

Since being acquired by the Rangers from Chicago on Feb. 28 in a three-team deal that included Arizona, Kane has played 17 games for the Rangers, recording five goals (including the 450th of his career) and six assists. In 70 games for Chicago and the Rangers, he has 21 goals and 35 assists.

When he came to the Rangers, Kane had immediate chemistry with Artemi Panarin, who’d been his linemate for two seasons with Chicago. But despite his Hall of Fame resume, he still had to fit in in the Rangers’ locker room and build chemistry with the other players. He had a chance to play on a line with Kreider and Vincent Trocheck, but he still needs to figure out how best to connect with Zibanejad.

“I think the biggest thing is, all of us are good hockey players, right? So sometimes you don’t want to overthink it,’’ he said. “You want to play off your instinct to want to go to where you feel the puck is going to be [and] not overthink situations too much. So I think if we play off instinct, obviously there’s going to be some chemistry that would need to be developed. But hopefully it’s one of those things that comes pretty quick.’’

Kane also returned to the first power-play unit along with Zibanejad, Kreider, Panarin and Adam Fox. Given that the power play had scored four goals in seven opportunities in the two games Kane missed, it wouldn’t have been unreasonable for coach Gerard Gallant to stick with Vladimir Tarasenko on the unit instead of Kane. But the coach opted to put Kane back on the top unit.

“That’s where he belongs,’’ Gallant said. “So we’re going to try him up there and see where it goes.’’

The power play went 0-for-2 against the Blue Jackets, but the first unit did move the puck around pretty efficiently.

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.