The Rangers defeated the Devils 5-4 on Tuesday evening. Kaapo Kakko, Adam Edstrom, Victor Mancini, Connor Mackey and Vincent Trocheck all lit the lamp in the win. New York closes their pre-season on the Island on Friday.

A few key takeaways:
1) Artmei Panarin left the contest with a lower-body injury. This is a repeat of the same injury that forced Panarin from last week's game against the Islanders. His removal was termed "precautionary," but given the myriad of injuries this preseason and nothing to gain by playing him Friday, put Panarin in bubble wrap until Opening Night. In terms of the injuries, the league and PA will explore cutting the number of exhibition games, but of course that may come with an increase in regular season games by two.

2) K'Andre Miller-Adam Fox - we have started to see the pairing of this duo in practice. With Ryan Lindgren sidelined, coach Peter Laviolette has tried and is trying multiple partners for Fox, including Mackey, a lefty, and Manicni, a righty. Giving Miller-Fox a chance, which should be the pairing Friday, makes too much sense, at least in terms of exploring options. If Miller-Fox can mesh, that would be the team's new #1 pairing, at least while Lindgren is sidelined.

Presuming this is the pairing, we then could see Zac Jones-Jacob Trouba and either Mackey or Mancini - the latter being my choice - with Braden Schneider. I would go with Jones-Schneider as the second pair but understand why we see Trouba there.

3) With Jimmy Vesey out yesterday and for a few weeks, the Rangers rolled out a fourth-line trio of Edström, Sam Carrick and Matt Rempe on Tuesday, which could very well be the arrangement for opening night. Edström, who had a strong rookie camp, continued to build off that, earning an opportunity with a strong preseason, including his third goal in four appearances Tuesday. Carrick provides a solid center man who should see a key spot on the penalty kill while Rempe has had a solid, if unspectacular camp. If this is the fourth line, look for Jonny Brodzinski to be the 13th forward and Othmann to start the season in the minors.

As a reminder, I am out of pocket starting late afternoon until Saturday night due to the holiday and Sabbath.

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