Rangers’ Sammy Blais taking lineup scratch in stride: ‘Happens to everyone’
Blais #Blais
Sammy Blais was a healthy scratch Thursday night for the first time since he came to the Rangers as part of the July 2021 trade that sent Pavel Buchnevich to Blues.
The decision was primarily made to get Vitali Kravtsov into just his 11th game of the season after the Russian winger had watched from the press box during the previous three contests. But it was the first time Blais found himself on the outs of the Rangers lineup, which he has always been penciled into when healthy since St. Louis packaged him with a 2022 second-rounder and shipped him to New York.
“It’s part of the game,” Blais told The Post after practice Friday in Tarrytown. “It’s happened to me before. Just got to stay positive and work hard. I knew this year was not going to be easy for me coming back from my injury. It happens to everyone. Just stay positive and be a good teammate and work hard. I’m sure I’ll be back in the lineup soon.”
It’s of note that Blais was taken out instead of Julien Gauthier or Jonny Brodzinski, two players who started the season in AHL Hartford. Blais hasn’t spent time in the AHL since the 2018-19 season, but the 26-year-old winger has struggled to get back to how he was playing before he suffered a season-ending ACL tear against the Devils on Nov. 14, 2021.
Perhaps stepping away from game action will be beneficial for Blais, who is still searching for his first goal as a Ranger after 41 contests. Blais has combined for nine assists over the past two seasons and just hasn’t been the offensive contributor the Rangers likely hoped he would be when they acquired him.
“Sammy has been fine,” head coach Gerard Gallant said. “We wanted to get Kravy into a game and somebody’s got to come out. I think Sammy’s played fine. He’s frustrated, he’s got no goals, but over the last number of games I’ve thought that line has been fine.”
The one-for-one winger swap of Blais for Kravtsov was the easiest way for the Rangers to keep the forward lines as close to the same as they were by the end of their win over the Devils earlier this week. During practice on Friday, Kravtsov took the first line rush with the fourth line, indicating he’ll likely stay there in the Rangers’ next matchup against the Flyers on Saturday.
Blais noted that he hasn’t played as many games as he has so far in a long time, but added he obviously wants to be competing in every game. Regardless, he said he respects the decision and is just focusing on being ready to go when his name is called again.
“Maybe a little reset, maybe sometimes it feels good.” Blais said. “I just want to get better in practice and stuff.”