Extra work by Kid Line paying off
The pre-practice sessions with Rangers skills coach Mark Ciaccio have become an occasional, unofficial routine for the Kid Line. Sometimes, they’re all in attendance. Other times, it’s just Kaapo Kakko, Alexis Lafreniere or Filip Chytil individually.
Even Patrick Kane said Saturday — after the Rangers’ victory against the Panthers — that he’d have to join them “early on the ice,” because he noticed that’s when they work on holding onto the puck, making plays and finetuning the skills that have translated over to the ice.
That game against Florida marked the second time they’ve all scored in the same game (the other came against Vegas in December), and the Kid Line continued to receive positive reviews from Rangers head coach Gerard Gallant and teammates like Kane ahead of Tuesday’s game against the Blue Jackets.
“I think all of us three [have] been watching him like when we were young,” said Kakko, who now has 14 goals and 36 points this season, told The Post. “Sounds very good. I like that [Kane said that].”
When working with Ciaccio, Lafreniere said that sometimes they’re trying to “feel the puck a little bit” — making plays or connecting on saucer passes. Ciaccio will also make them work on stickhandling or skating, Kakko added.
Niko Mikkola has been in a situation like this before.
His defensive partners have changed since arriving via trade from St. Louis — alongside Vladimir Tarasenko — on Feb. 9, and recently, that has been due to Ryan Lindgren’s lingering shoulder injury. But Mikkola told The Post that it’s similar to what he encountered with the Blues, when sometimes he’d skate first-pairing minutes and other times would drop down a defensive unit or two.
“I don’t want to do too much and try to do something I’m not,” Mikkola said.
Rather, Mikkola added, he has wanted to focus on his role. His average ice time per game has increased by nearly two minutes — 16:39 to 18:31 — since arriving on Broadway, and he has topped 20 minutes six times in 22 games with the Blueshirts after doing so just 10 times across 50 games with the Blues.