Kaapo Kakko scratched for Game 6, Dryden Hunt draws in

TAMPA, Fla. – Rangers coach Gerard Gallant hinted there would be changes to how his team was going to look in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Final against the Tampa Bay Lightning Saturday night at Amalie Arena.

There were changes alright.

Gallant dressed 13 forwards for warmups, the same 13 who dressed for warmups before Game 5, where Dryden Hunt was the extra forward who didn’t play. But second-line center Ryan Strome left warmups briefly, and didn’t take part in the customary line rushes during warmups. He returned after the line rushes were completed. His line, with Artemi Panarin on left wing and Andrew Copp on the right, was centered by Kaapo Kakko, who is not a center.

That was the early indicator that Kakko was the extra forward, and that Hunt, who hadn’t played since Game 3 of the first round against Pittsburgh, was in, skating on a fourth line with Kevin Rooney and Tyler Motte. And when the official roster came out, Kakko was scratched, while Strome and Hunt were in.

But that wasn’t the only change. There were more shakeups. Chris Kreider, who scored 52 goals in the regular season and was tied for the team lead in the playoffs with Mika Zibanejad, with 10, was dropped from the top line down to a third line, with center Filip Chytil and right wing Barclay Goodrow. Alexis Lafrenière, who had been on the Kid Line with Chytil and Kakko, was moved up to Kreider’s spot.

Still, scratching Kakko, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2019 draft, for the first time in his career, was the biggest deal. The Kid Line of Kakko, 21, Chytil, 22 and Lafrenière, 20, had been the most eye-catching line for the Rangers in the playoffs, but the trio got limited ice time in Game 5 and Gallant was lukewarm in his assessment of them after the game and the next day. After the game, he said the Kid Line was “OK,’’ and on Friday he said “they were fine.’’

Forechecking has been a big topic this series, and clearly, Gallant wanted to add some speed into the lineup. Kakko is the slowest skater among the Kid Line, and he was the one who Gallant had dropped to the fourth line in Games 4 and 5 of the second-round series against Carolina, when he promoted Tyler Motte to the third line to get some more speed on that unit. Kakko also was the only member of the line that wasn’t on the second power play unit.

Perhaps as a result, Kakko, the No. 2 pick overall in the 2019 draft, had the fewest points of the trio, with five (two goals, three assists), while Chytil and Lafrenière both had nine – Chytil with seven goals and two assists, Lafrenière with two goals and seven assists.

Hunt, who played 76 games in the regular season, was a healthy scratch in Game 1 of the playoffs against Pittsburgh, but entered the lineup after Goodrow broke his left foot blocking a shot in that game. He played in Games 2 and 3 but didn’t play again until Saturday.