ANAHEIM — Maybe it was the home cooking.
Maybe it was a different measure of metrics coming from head coach Peter Laviolette.
Regardless, Urho Vaakanainen, who had been a healthy scratch the previous three games, was reinstalled in the lineup for Friday night’s 5-4 overtime loss to the Ducks, the team from which he was dealt to New York in the Dec. 6 Jacob Trouba exchange.
He was on for 13:59 of ice time.
Vaakanainen, bumped from the lineup by Carson Soucy, lined up beside Braden Schneider on the third pair that had been a staple leading up to the trade deadline.
Thus, Zac Jones was scratched for the first time since Feb. 25 off a 14-game run in which the 23-year-old lefty was on for six goals for and seven against with a 51.05 expected goals share that led Blueshirts defensemen over that span.
Jones, who quarterbacked the second power play without any genuine impact, picked up three assists over this 14-game stretch.
Laviolette went with Nicolas Aube-Kubel and Brett Berard on Sam Carrick’s wings on the fourth line while scratching Juuso Parssinen.
Berard had been scratched the previous two games while Carrick missed Tuesday’s 3-1 defeat in LA celebrating the birth of his son back home.
Aube-Kubel, acquired at the deadline in exchange for Erik Brannstrom in a minor league deal with Buffalo, made his Blueshirts debut in LA, getting 5:39 of ice in 10 shifts while credited with two hits.
Matt Rempe, of course, is sidelined “week-to-week,” per the Rangers, after suffering an upper-body injury against the Kings, likely in his second-period fight with Tanner Jeannot.
Igor Shesterkin made his career-high ninth consecutive start, the Russian having gone 3-4-2 over that span.
Jonathan Quick, who has not started— or been in a game —since a 7-3 defeat to Columbus at the Garden on March 9, is likely to be in the net for Saturday’s match in San Jose.
This marked Shesterkin’s 55th start and appearance this season, three shy of his personal bests established in 2022-23.
