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Despite taking line rushes at morning skate in Tarrytown on Thursday, Artemi Panarin did not play in the Rangers second-to-last exhibition game — a 3-1 loss to the Devils — at Madison Square Garden.
The star Russian wing, who has been a full participant in the last few practices after suffering an undisclosed lower-body injury earlier in camp, was held out of the lineup for what was described as precautionary reasons.
“He’s day to day, we’re going to err on the side of caution with both [Panarin] and J.T. [Miller.] And that’s where their status is right now.”
After leaving practice Sept. 19, Panarin missed a couple of practices before skating on his own for three days.
He then returned to practice with the team on Sept. 26.
As a result of Panarin’s absence, Conor Sheary — still on a professional tryout agreement — filled in his spot on the left wing of Vincent Trocheck and Alexis Lafrenière.
The rest of the Rangers top six was rounded out by Will Cuylle, Mika Zibanejad and Gabe Perreault.
The third line was composed of Adam Edström, Juuso Pärssinen and Taylor Raddysh, while Jonny Brodzinski, Noah Laba and Matt Rempe skated on the fourth unit.
After Paul Cotter opened the scoring for the Devils later in the first period, Adam Edstrom notched the Rangers only goal of the night in a unique fashion. Edstrom pressured Devils defenseman Simon Nemec into an errant pass that deflected off the 6-foot-7 forward and past New Jersey goalie Jacob Markstorm.
The Devils, however, received two more goals from Ondrej Palat on the power play and Dawson Mercer on an empty net in the third period to secure the victory.
“I thought there were some really positive things to build on,” Sullivan said. “And I think there’s a lot of room or opportunity for us to get better. That was as close to an NHL lineup as we’ve seen to this point. We had a fairly strong lineup also. I thought there were moments in the game where we would dictate the terms so to speak. There were moments when we were on our heels. But I thought there were a lot of positive things that we can build on.”
Miller did not participate in morning skate with the team Thursday, but the Rangers captain took the ice beforehand for the first time since sustaining a non-contact lower-body injury Monday.
Sam Carrick, who was pulled from Monday’s exhibition lineup due to a lower-body injury, skated in a regular jersey in Tarrytown on Thursday.
Jonathan Quick played the entirety of Thursday night’s loss.
Such was the plan going into the final two exhibition games, according to head coach Mike Sullivan, who confirmed star goalie Igor Shesterkin would play the entirety of Saturday’s preseason finale in Boston.
“A lot of it is spacing,” Sullivan said. “Spacing between games. Our intention is Quickie gets the full game [Thursday] and Shesty gets a full game on Saturday. It’s closer to the opening night. So a lot of it is just spacing between the games so they get the proper rest and recovery, but also are prepared.”
In the loss, Quick stopped 10 of the 12 shots he faced.
