Reilly Smith remains with Vincent Trocheck on Rangers' second line

GREENBURGH – When Rangers coach Peter Laviolette scrambled his lines for last Saturday’s practice, most of the attention was directed toward first-line center Mika Zibanejad getting new linemates in Artemi Panarin and Alexis Lafreniere.

But second-line center Vincent Trocheck got two new linemates as well in wingers Will Cuylle and Reilly Smith.

“I’ve played with both of them in the past, so newish [linemates], I guess,’’ Trocheck said. “Both solid players. ‘Cools’ works really hard, Smitty's one of the smartest players I've ever played with.’’

Cuylle lived at Trocheck’s house during his rookie year last season, and they were linemates for the first 10 games of the season before Filip Chytil’s presumed concussion took him out of the lineup and forced Trocheck to move up into his spot between Panarin and Lafreniere.

Trocheck and Smith played together years ago when both were with Florida.

“Troch is a pretty easy guy to read on the ice, so hopefully it only takes us one game to get comfortable,’’ Smith said. “I think last game [Sunday vs. the Islanders], there was opportunities where we could have played a little bit faster, a little cleaner, especially in the first period. But after that, I felt like we started to get a little bit more going."

According to the analytics site Natural Stat Trick, the three players were on ice together 5-on-5 for 11 minutes on Sunday. The Rangers were outshot 11-4 during that time, but the high-danger chances were 3-3, and the goals for/goals against were 1-1. Trocheck scored in the second period after Smith stripped Islanders defenseman Samuel Bolduc of the puck deep in the Islanders zone and dropped a pass to a driving Trocheck in the slot.

“Reilly made a really nice play, stopping on that forecheck, and then hanging on to it for a second or two, and then finding a second wave coming in wide open,’’ Laviolette said. “We did know that there was a little bit of chemistry with those guys.’’

Indications at practice Wednesday were that Laviolette will keep the same lines together for Thursday’s game at the Garden against the Buffalo Sabres, and the coach said, ideally, the lines will stay together for at least a little while.

“I would like to,’’ he said. “I think the record always kind of dictates in play, right? If you're not playing well… not producing, how long do you stay with something [if] you say, ‘Well, that's not working?’ When something is working, or you are getting results, and you think that there's room for growth… you can tend to stay with it a little bit longer."

Smith, who was acquired from Pittsburgh in a July 1 trade to be the right wing for Zibanejad and Chris Kreider, said every day he feels less and less like a new guy and more and more like a core member of the team.

“Obviously the guys in this locker room who were here last year, they had a long playoff run, and that bonds a team," Smith said. “But everyone in this locker room is extremely welcoming. Everyone from this organization has been awesome. So I think you just take it a day at a time, and you try to feel more comfortable every day. And I think that's been the case."

Blue notes

In practice, Zac Jones, who played in the last game, got a look at the point on the second power-play unit. Rookie D Victor Mancini skated on a fourth pair with spare forward Jonny Brodzinski, indicating he will be scratched for the second straight game.

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.