PITTSBURGH — Ryan Strome was sidelined for the Rangers’ matchup with the Penguins on Tuesday after the second-line center sustained an undisclosed lower-body injury in the first period against the Sabres two nights earlier.

However, Strome traveled with the Rangers and is considered a possibility for the second game of the back-to-back against the Red Wings on Wednesday.

“The trainer tells me day-to-day, so possible for [Wednesday in Detroit],” head coach Gerard Gallant said before the Rangers’ 3-2 road win over the Penguins.

Without Strome, trade-deadline acquisition Andrew Copp slid into the middle of the second line next to Artemi Panarin and Dryden Hunt. Veteran forward Ryan Reaves also drew back into the Rangers lineup after he was a healthy scratch for the previous two games, slotting into his usual spot on the right wing of the fourth line alongside Tyler Motte and Jonny Brodzinski.

The ongoing line jumbling has been a work in progress, but Strome’s absence allows Copp to get another look at center. Copp said he considers himself a center who can play on the wing, which is where he’s started in the three games he’s played since the Jets traded the 27-year-old to New York at the March 21 trade deadline.

“I’m trying to put the best lineup together for [Tuesday’s] game,” Gallant said. “He can play center, he prefers center, he’ll play either wing. They’re all over the place and we’re just trying to get the lineup that best suits us for the Pittsburgh Penguins.”

Copp has only taken some reps in the middle, when the Rangers were getting run over by the Devils last week and after Strome went down on Sunday. The couple of chances he’s gotten could’ve gone better, but it sounds like Copp prefers to play center.

He said he feels like he can dictate the pace of play better in the middle. Rotating through all three forwards positions and between both specials teams, however, is nothing new for Copp.

“I think I was doing a little bit too much thinking last game when I was in the middle,” Copp said. “It wasn’t coming as seamlessly as a different system did for seven years for me. I think it’s dictating pace and just creating space and opportunities for my linemates to succeed.”

Stepping into the top six is one thing, but lining up alongside a marquee player like Panarin is another. Especially when the player you’re replacing has coined a nickname like Bread and Butter with Panarin.

But Copp said he’ll try not “to reinvent the wheel” while next to Panarin, who the Michigan product said has initiated dialogue between the two to familiarize each other with their habits and tendencies.

“You know, do what I do best,” Copp said of how he’ll approach the opportunity. “I think that I can get the puck to Bread a lot of the time and you’ve seen a lot of those seam passes, that’s led to a bunch of chances off the rush. Win battles in the zone, go to the net, bury the chances in front that he feeds and then just playing off each other.”

Defenseman Justin Braun went from playing top-pair minutes for the Flyers to battling for a spot on the Rangers’ bottom duo in the matter of days.

The only time Philadelphia scratched Braun this season was on March 20 against the Islanders, when the Flyers were holding the veteran out in anticipation of trading him the following day at the deadline.

After skating in his first game with the Rangers against the Devils last week, Braun has been a healthy scratch in the last three.

“He’ll be in soon,” Gallant said.

Acquiring Braun certainly deepened the Rangers’ defense and the team should be in good shape should an injury arise. President and general manager Chris Drury did give up a 2023 third-round pick to bring Braun in, so expect the 35-year-old to get some time to prove himself throughout the Rangers’ final 16 games of the regular season.

The fact that Braun has been the seventh defenseman lately bodes well for Schneider, who has only been in street clothes that one Devils game since making his NHL debut on Jan. 13 in San Jose. Schneider scored his second goal of his career in Tuesday’s win.