WASHINGTON — Gerard Gallant has started with the same forward combinations in the past 11 games, which is one of the Rangers head coach’s longest streaks of the season.
With the additions of Patrick Kane and Vladimir Tarasenko, it was imperative to give the lineup some continuity — and that’s what Gallant has done.
When such a star-studded alignment has been limited to two goals or fewer in four of the past six games, however, the itch to switch naturally comes back.
The Rangers’ top six has scored just five five-on-five goals in the past six contests.
Three of those goals were in the 6-2 win over the Blue Jackets earlier this week, leaving just two tallies spread across the other five games from the team’s loaded top two lines.
Gallant said he felt he had “one line show up” in the Rangers’ 3-2 overtime loss Friday night in Buffalo — presumably referring to the Kid Line of Alexis Lafreniere, Filip Chytil and Kaapo Kakko, who all had a hand in the club’s first goal.
The fourth line logged the second-highest ice time as a unit behind the Kids at 10:04, according to Natural Stat Trick.
If the Rangers are rolling their bottom six instead of their top, that’s a problem.
It was evident in the way the 59-year-old bench boss mixed and matched the first and second units — which feature Artemi Panarin, Mika Zibanejad, Vladimir Tarasenko, Chris Kreider, Vincent Trocheck and Patrick Kane — that he was fishing for a spark Friday.
“There’s no message, it’s, ‘Show up,’ ” Gallant said after the loss. “You’ve got to play NHL games. You play like that, people get hurt. You get run over in your own zone, people get tired. You got to respect your goaltending, you got to respect your defense and everybody’s got to play the game the right way. We’re not playing the game the right way.”
The starting top line of Panarin, Zibanejad and Tarasenko were out-attempted 4-0 and quickly split up Friday, with Kreider replacing Panarin on the left wing at first.
Kreider’s original unit with Trocheck and Kane didn’t have much going, either.
Panarin, Trocheck and Kane were on the ice for two Sabres goals, in addition to getting out-attempted 9-3.
The Rangers did get a brief look at Kane on the right side of Zibanejad, with Kreider on the left.
It wasn’t the most encouraging small sample size of just 2:07 of ice time together in Friday’s loss, but that’s an intriguing combination.
Zibanejad’s distribution and shooting abilities paired with Kane’s playmaking and Kreider’s net-front presence could be a trio worth exploring.
It’s also a combo that hasn’t been put together much since Kane’s arrival on Broadway.
That would leave Panarin and Tarasenko to flank Trocheck, who had done well during his last stretch next to the formerly mentioned Russian.
Panarin and Trocheck have played a lot of games together this season and that might be a comfortable spot for the two.
The top six hit a stride in the weeks leading up to the Rangers’ clinching a playoff spot March 27, so it’s not out of the realm of possibilities that Gallant sticks with the lineup he’s been riding.
He’s made it clear just how much he doesn’t want to have to change the lines, but Gallant is always going to react to the lineup’s production — or lack thereof.
Based on the way he split up the ice time and his postgame comments Friday, however, there’s a good chance Gallant will want to see something different with his top six.