The line-juggling act that Gerard Gallant will have to perform in the final 16 games of the regular season, in order to find the most captivating combinations in time for the playoffs, is not always going to unfold the way the Rangers coach wants it to. 

That’s on the trial-and-error process the Rangers must go through to effectively integrate the three new forwards president and general manager Chris Drury traded for leading up to last week’s deadline. But in trying new combinations and unearthing old ones, chemistry is sure to be created. 

Alexis Lafreniere and Filip Chytil have certainly started clicking since reuniting on the third line together in the last two games. With Barclay Goodrow on the right wing, the third unit has been much more noticeable as of late compared to what it was for a majority of the season. 

The speed of Chytil and the grinding nature of Goodrow has created space for Lafreniere, who has two goals and an assist while playing on his natural left wing in the last two contests. 

On Lafreniere’s 15th goal of the season Sunday, Chytil won the puck battle along the boards and kept the Rangers in transition up ice. Jonny Brodzinski then brought it into the zone and dished it to Chytil, who backhanded it to Lafreniere crashing the net to knot the game 3-3 heading into the final frame of the Rangers’ 5-4 overtime win against the Sabres. 

Lafreniere and Chytil connected on an odd-man rush against the Penguins on Friday as well. 

“Goody’s always doing the right things and Fil, his speed is really a key to our line,” said Lafreniere, who is in the midst of a career-high six-game point streak. “It’s a lot of fun playing with them and we’ll try to keep it going.” 

In October, Lafreniere and Chytil lined up with Sammy Blais for a handful of games before Julien Gauthier stepped in after Blais suffered a season-ending ACL tear. The Lafreniere-Chytil-Gauthier unit created scoring chances every once in a while, but often struggled to capitalize. 

If Chytil and Lafreniere are able to build on their recent success, the Rangers will get some needed scoring help from the bottom six. 

The Rangers acquired forward Maxim Letunov from the Hurricanes in exchange for defenseman Tarmo Reunanen, the team announced on Monday. Reunanen, the Rangers’ 98th-overall pick in the 2016 NHL Draft, appeared in four games for the Blueshirts and 61 matchups with the organization’s AHL affiliate, the Wolf Pack. 

Letunov, who signed his first NHL contract with the Sharks in 2018, played in three NHL games in 2019-20, but has primarily been with the AHL’s San Jose Barracuda. He’s scored 13 goals and dished 10 assists for the Chicago Wolves this season. 

The Rangers face the Penguins Tuesday for the second time in the span of five days, after their 5-1 win at the Garden on Friday. 

“I think they’re going to be hungry,” Andrew Copp said. “I think you saw [Sunday] night, I don’t know what the final was but [11-2] on Detroit. I feel like with the way things are looking we might be playing each other in the playoffs, so they’re probably going to want to play a better game than they did last time here. 

“It’ll be a real good test next game in Pittsburgh.”