Gerard Gallant said his decision to reconstruct the Rangers’ lines — which included dropping Chris Kreider to the fourth unit — to start the third period of the club’s disappointing 3-2 overtime loss to the Red Wings on Sunday had been brewing for some time. 

Instead of reverting to the alignment they’ve stuck to for a majority of the season, however, the Rangers head coach kept some of those changes and even made some new tweaks during practice on Monday in preparation for the Islanders. A lineup shake-up could not only wake up some key players, but also lead to a spark on offense for a team that has lost six of its last 10 games. 

“You’re responsible to get your team to play better and that’s what I want,” Gallant said after practice Monday in Tarrytown. “We always point out Chris Kreider went to the fourth line [Sunday] night. Well, he did, but we switched a lot of the lines around. Today at practice, you mix and match your lines a little bit because I want everybody to be better. Not just Chris Kreider. 

“He’s got to be one of our leaders and he’s got to pull his weight instead of going the other way. That’s what we need from our players, our leaders, our top players. They’ve got to lead our team when we’re not playing well. … It’s got to start at the top. 

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“When you’re real good, our best players have got to be our best players. And I’m just not happy with the way we’re playing and I think it’s going the other way and we’ve got to change it.” 

The new combinations in practice on Monday slightly resembled those Gallant put together in response to a lackadaisical second period Sunday. Artemi Panarin logged 5:31 on the first line with Mika Zibanejad and Kaapo Kakko in the loss, during which they held a 2-0 edge in scoring chances, so the Russian winger was there again. 

Panarin and Zibanejad haven’t spent much time on a line together since becoming teammates in 2019-20, when they skated alongside one another for the first seven games of that campaign before reuniting for another two contests later in the year. Kakko joined them on two occasions that season, as well. Plus, Panarin and Zibanejad only skated together for two games in 2020-21 and three games last season. 

With Panarin on the top line, Jimmy Vesey has taken his spot next to Vincent Trocheck and Alexis Lafreniere. And since Julien Gauthier is now sidelined with an upper-body injury he presumably sustained Saturday against Detroit, the fourth line featured a combination of Sammy Blais, Ryan Carpenter, Barclay Goodrow and Ryan Reaves. The Rangers may want to go with Reaves in a matchup with the heavyweight Islanders on Tuesday at the Garden. 

This all has bumped Kreider out of his usual spot on the left side of Zibanejad. Kreider, whose 10 points in 13 games isn’t indicative of how much more the Rangers need out of him, was demoted Sunday alongside Carpenter and Gauthier in a decision that Gallant essentially said was warranted. 

Kreider was never going to stay on the bottom line, but he wasn’t given his top-six job back, either. He skated on what is largely considered the third unit on Monday, slotting into the left wing of Filip Chytil and Vitali Kravtsov. 

Knowing that Kreider is capable of scoring 52 goals in a season, which he proved last year, the move was certainly made in hopes of soliciting a response from the 31-year-old winger. Kreider acknowledged that he’s not playing well enough, but also expressed his commitment to the details that should help him start finding the back of the net again. 

“I think I’m getting the same looks, they’re just not going in — and they will if I keep on doing those [little] things,” Kreider said. “I’m going to score. I’m going to score a lot. But for me, it’s the details. Skating, it’s hitting, establishing that forecheck and getting my nose over pucks. Those are things that I can do consistently, whether or not the puck is going in. So those are things I will do consistently.”