Alain Vigneault called it a “subtle little move,” putting rookie Pavel Buchnevich in the Game 4 lineup and shifting Michael Grabner to the wing on the presumptive fourth line in place of Tanner Glass. What it allowed the Rangers to do was roll four lines pretty evenly throughout the 2-1 win Tuesday night at the Garden, and that speedy Grabner-Oscar Lindberg-Jesper Fast trio was effective once again.
But it wasn’t necessarily the Rangers’ best line, as Vigneault called the Glass-Lindberg-Fast line through the first three games. That’s a backhanded compliment to a team, when its fourth line is playing like its first; on Tuesday, Fast contributed the game’s opening goal, but there were plenty more active Rangers forwards than in the previous two games, which made Vigneault’s ability to roll four lines and preserve that one-goal lead all the more important.