First it was Kevin Shattenkirk, and this time it was Mika Zibanejad.
As the Rangers pushed to try to overcome a one-goal deficit, coach Alain Vigneault decided to bench Zibanejad, his presumptive top-line center, for all but one shift in the third period and all of the final 18:09 of regulation in what would be a 3-2 loss to the Maple Leafs on Saturday night at the Garden.
“I was going to go down to three lines, after that first shift in the third just went in another direction,” said Vigneault, who also sat forwards Paul Carey and Boo Nieves for much of the game, including most of the third period. “I definitely thought the other nine guys were better.”
On Thursday night, Vigneault sat Shattenkirk for the final 7:28 of regulation in a tie game that turned into a 4-3 shootout loss to the Devils in Newark.
Zibanejad was playing his third game back after a nine-game absence due to a concussion. He finished with 12:41 of total ice time, with 2:38 on the power play, registering two shots on net.
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Vigneault juggled his lines starting in the second period, when he began to sit Carey and Nieves. He put J.T. Miller back in the middle between Chris Kreider and Pavel Buchnevich, while Kevin Hayes went between Michael Grabner and Mats Zuccarello. That left Jimmy Vesey on a line with David Desharnais and Rick Nash.
The game had started with Miller on the fourth-line wing, next to Nieves, who was playing his first game back after being a healthy scratch for the previous two.
“Just looking at our makeup, and the fact that Boo is coming back in the lineup,” is how Vigneault explained the decision before the game. “I like the way Davie’s been playing, so I just decided to make a little switch-up.”
Vigneault also spent much of the third period putting defenseman Brendan Smith with Brady Skjei and Shattenkirk with Marc Staal.
Lias Andersson, the Rangers first-round pick (No. 7 overall) in this year’s draft, was named the captain of Team Sweden for the upcoming World Junior Championships, starting on the day after Christmas — known to Canadians as “Boxing Day.”
Andersson, 19, almost made the Rangers out of training camp, but was sent back to Sweden to play for his club team, Frolunda, where the two-way center had seven goals and 14 points in 22 games.