When the Rangers took the ice for the first time in their 2021 training camp Thursday, first-year coach Gerard Gallant opted to split up his top two forwards, Mika Zibanejad and Artemi Panarin, as the team opened camp with a first-thing-in-the-morning, intrasquad scrimmage.
"It’s Day 1,’’ Gallant said. "We’ll see where things go with that. The first exhibition game (Sunday against the Islanders), I don’t know what we’re going to do with that. It’s just, sort of, one day at a time, and… those people are familiar with each other.’’
Gallant on Wednesday had said he will want to see what the team looks like with Panarin and Zibanejad playing together, and what it looks like with them playing on separate lines.