Artemi Panarin was back on the ice Thursday at MSG Training Center after leaving the preseason game against the Islanders with a lower-body injury.
The star Russian wing assured he was fine, noting that because it’s preseason, he and the Rangers wanted to be safe.
The expectation is that Panarin will get at least one more preseason game, but the 32-year-old did not suit up for Thursday’s contest against the Bruins at Madison Square Garden.
Artemi Panarin, skating during a Blueshirts’ pratice earlier this month, returned to the ice, but did not play in the Rangers’ 5-2 preseason win over the Bruins on Sept. 26, 2024.
“I’m good,” he said after skating without limitations Thursday morning. “Just a lower-body [thing].”
Entering his sixth season with the Rangers, Panarin is coming off a career year in which he posted 49 goals and 71 assists for 120 points in 82 games.
In addition to getting named to the first All-Star team at the end of last season, Panarin also finished fifth in voting for the Hart Trophy, awarded to the most valuable player to his team.
Panarin has appeared in all 82 regular-season games the past two campaigns, as well as all 23 playoff games over the same span.
There was a healthy presence of NHL regulars in the Rangers lineup in their 5-2 win over the Bruins at The Garden, but the spotlight seemed to find the bubble players who were looking to showcase themselves.
Connor Mackey fights Mark Kastelic (47) during the second period of the Rangers’ preseason win.
Brennan Othmann, Jonny Brodzinski and Adam Edstrom all scored in the third straight preseason Blueshirts victory.
All three skaters are still vying for a spot on the Opening Night roster, with Brodzinski leading the way in terms of his chances to make it.
Though no one needed a confidence-boosting game more than Othmann, who wasn’t pleased with his performance in the previous exhibition game against the Isles.
“I felt a lot better than last game,” he said. “I thought that was probably one of the better games of the three I’ve played in, so I felt pretty good. I was just confident with the puck. Just taking it day by day and kind of leaving the last games that I played in the past. Regardless if they’re good or bad, I just want to go out there and just try to contribute in a way that I know how and that I’m good at.”
In addition to the contributions of the bubble players, Chris Kreider recorded a goal and an assist and Adam Fox scored a power-play goal.
Veterans such as Mika Zibanejad, Reilly Smith, Filip Chytil, Kaapo Kakko, Will Cuylle, Sam Carrick, Jimmy Vesey, Jacob Trouba, K’Andre Miller and Zac Jones all suited up, too.
Jonathan Quick and Louis Domingue were in goal.
Adam Erne, who is in Rangers training camp on a PTO, also played on Thursday.
Edstrom is a player who has made some noise this training camp, and the 6-foot-7 forward continued to do so Thursday night — but it might take more to crack the Rangers roster out of training camp.
“It’s just consistency,” Laviolette said of what he wants to see from Edstrom, who scored his second goal of the preseason on an empty net in Thursday’s win. “He’s played well. He’s big, he can skate. He came into camp in great shape. His skating is really good. He’s physical in his own way. He’s heavy in battles. He’s heavy on pucks. He can play the body. He’s hard to control at the net, like you saw last game he scored a goal.”
Matthew Robertson (lower-body injury), Ryder Korczak (upper-body injury) and Talyn Boyko (upper-body injury) are all still considered day-to-day and did not skate Thursday.
