Adam Fox's lack of points has nothing to do with Peter Laviolette.
The Rangers defenseman hasn't scored yet this year, but he has 20 assists.
“Honestly, if our team is finding wins and finding ways to be successful, we definitely don't even talk about it because he's part of the team in that regard.” Laviolette said after the Rangers' practice Tuesday afternoon. “So we try to bring things up at a time when the team is not doing well.
“I haven't talked to him about scoring goals. I've talked about him and his play and being a two-way defenseman, playing good defense, contributing offensively, which earns points.” We talked more about whether it meant even just contributing on the offensive end, because that's his strength.
Rookie Brett Berard practiced Tuesday wearing a green non-contact jersey.
The 22-year-old missed Monday's 5-1 loss to the Devils due to an upper-body injury.
Berard had a goal and an assist in the first four games of his NHL career since being promoted from AHL Hartford last week. Laviolette didn't yet know if he would be available for Friday's game against the Devils.
It's worth noting that Laviolette took longer than usual to speak to the media after Monday's loss.
“We're just having a meeting in the room,” Laviolette said the next day, Tuesday. “That's it.”
The Rangers used the same line combinations in practice Tuesday as they used to open the season. That's also how they ended Monday's loss.
Artemi Panarin, Vincent Trocheck and Alexis Lafreniere skated on the front line. Chris Kreider, Mika Zibanejad and Riley Smith skated on the second line.
Will Quill, Filip Sitil and Kaapo Kakko skated on the third line. Adam Edstrom, Sam Carrick and Jimmy Vesey skated in the fourth row.
Fox paired with Ryan Lindgren, Quandre Miller paired with Braden Schneider, and Zach Jones paired with Jacob Trouba.
The Rangers sent defenseman Chad Ruhwedel to Hartford.
