Rangers testing familiar defensive pairings ahead of crucial Game 6

For the first nine games of the postseason, the Rangers’ defensive corps featured Adam Fox with Ryan Lindgren, K’Andre Miller with Braden Schneider, and Jacob Trouba with Erik Gustafsson. This configuration was the result of a change made at the end of the regular season. During practice this week, Laviolette reverted back to an older configuration that could be seen once again on Thursday night.

Laviolette reunited Miller with Trouba and Schneider with Gustafsson, per Mollie Walker of The New York Post. These pairings had their share of ups and downs during the regular season and their return has sparked a strong reaction from Rangers fans.

Peter Laviolette was unwilling to clarify what the defensive pairings would look like ahead of time

When asked about the defensive pairings seen at practice, Laviolette was coy in his response, as usual. He didn’t give a straight answer, but hinted that a change in pairings for Game 6 is possible:

“It may or may not be exactly how it was out there today with everybody,” Laviolette said after practice Wednesday, per Walker of The Post. “In speaking with Miller and Trouba, there’s a lot of experience there. They’ve played a long time together, a lot of minutes together. I still feel like, no matter where we go on the back end, we still have really good balance of defensemen that are experienced and a lot of confidence in the group of six.”

Would deploying these new pairings be a good move?

The reaction to these practice pairings from Rangers fans has been largely negative on social media. They fear the worst when seeing Trouba and Miller’s names paired next to one another. However, there are reasons to believe this change could be for the better.

Trouba has been on the ice for eight of the Hurricanes’ past 11 goals. He and Gustaffson have struggled together and have been the pairing that Carolina has had added success in exploiting. Trouba logged more minutes next to Miller than any other defenseman during the regular season. Perhaps pairing them back up could be the way to get the Rangers’ team captain back on track to close out this series.