VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Ahead of Tuesday night’s 2-0 win over the Canucks, Rangers head coach Mike Sullivan made some lineup changes that opted for more veteran personnel over youth.
Brennan Othmann was replaced by Jonny Brodzinski after just one game, the 5-1 loss in Calgary, amid the rookie’s rough outing on Sunday night. Brodzinski slotted onto the right wing of the fourth line next to Adam Edstrom and Sam Carrick, while Othmann took a seat in the press box.
“I sat with him after the Lehigh Valley, the rookie games, and tried to define for him what the expectation is, and how we could potentially earn a roster spot,” Sullivan said of Othmann. “And I think the most important element of it is just attention to detail, reliability, knowing your job, doing your job, play away from the puck. That was where his focus, I think, needed to be. We’re looking for that element as an important aspect of him earning a roster spot.
“In the game the other night, there were some good things that he did. There were also some moments where attention to detail could have helped us keep the puck out of the net and things of that nature. We’ll continue to work with Otter with respect to those details and what those mean.”
Sullivan also decided to make a switch on defense for the first time since Carson Soucy was activated off injured reserve on Oct. 20.
Matthew Robertson was a healthy scratch Tuesday night after a run of seven consecutive games.
As a result, Urho Vaakanainen drew into the lineup for the first time since Oct. 18.
The 26-year-old Finn had been a healthy scratch in each of the previous three games.
“We feel like we have seven defensemen that are very capable,” Sullivan said. “We thought Robo was playing extremely well, bringing an element of physicality, playing with confidence, playing on his toes. He was defending rush well. He had a good stick. He was making good decisions, when to pinch, when not to pinch, good decisions with the puck. There was a simplicity to his game. There was a physical edge to his game that we felt was deserving of him being in the lineup.
“As a young player, for me, the biggest thing is trying to bring that consistently. We felt that the last couple of games that his game hasn’t been up to that level. We’ll work with him. Quinnie sits with with those guys almost daily…Vaaks is another guy that that is very capable also. These are competitive guys that all want to be in the lineup every night. We’re trying to make the best decisions for the team to give us the best chance to win.
“There’s a process that we go through after every game and evaluating and assessing what we have, and we make decisions from there.”
Matt Rempe, who did not come on the road trip as he was further evaluated for an upper-body injury in New York, is expected to be out “longer term,” Sullivan revealed on Tuesday.
Additionally, Vincent Trocheck resumed skating the past two days.
The Rangers center missed his ninth straight game while on long-term injured reserve recovering from an upper-body injury.
The Canucks were without their star defenseman, Quinn Hughes, because of a lower-body injury for a second straight game, as well as several other lineup regulars on Tuesday.
“I’d rather see him yesterday than today,” J.T. Miller quipped before the game, referencing how the two former teammates — as well as Canucks head coach Adam Foote — got together on Monday.
