It was almost as if the Rangers didn’t know what to do with a free day.
So they decided Tuesday to hold a “skills development” practice, dividing the team’s skaters into one six-man and two seven-man groups to work on stick-handling and shooting drills. The 13 forwards were divided by current linemates (the fourth line having four), and then the seven defensemen worked separately on slightly different drills.
“When we have some days here, stretches when you don’t have games, you want to change it up, you want to make the days a little bit different for the guys,” said associate coach Scott Arniel, speaking in place of head coach Alain Vigneault as the team readies for its trip to Tampa Bay to take on the Lightning on Thursday night with hopes of extending its winning streak to 10 games.