For the second time in three years, Kaapo Kakko was a healthy scratch in the Eastern Conference Final.

The Finnish wing had to watch the Rangers’ 2-1 overtime victory over the Panthers on Friday night at Madison Square Garden from the press box.

It marked the first time Kakko has been benched since ex-head coach Gerard Gallant did it in Game 6 of the 2022 conference final in Tampa Bay.

“I think you always look at your lineup and you evaluate it,” head coach Peter Laviolette said of potential lineup changes Friday morning. “I don’t necessarily know if it’s [overreacting versus looking for a spark regarding lineup changes]. I was pretty honest, I think we’re capable of playing better. I think we did good things. I think the scoring chances we generated, although there weren’t an enormous amount of them because that’s just not what happens when you play Florida. I do think that we got six or seven really good looks.

“Inside of that, we need to make some of those looks pay off. … So there’s things I think you can just look at the lineup itself and not necessarily about if there’s a move or not a move, but look at the lineup itself and get better with that game, with that plan, with that group.

“And if you make a move, you make a move. But I think we got to look at the bigger picture and look at getting better on the ice.”

As a result, Matt Rempe drew back into the lineup for the first time since Game 5 of the second-round series against the Hurricanes.

The 6-foot-8 ½ forward returned to his usual post on the fourth line next to Barclay Goodrow and Jimmy Vesey.

Laviolette opted to rearrange some of the other lines, as well.

Jack Roslovic was bumped down to the right wing of the third unit next to Alex Wennberg and Will Cuylle; Filip Chytil was promoted to the right wing of the top line alongside Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad.

The second line of Artemi Panarin, Vincent Trocheck and Alexis Lafreniere remained intact.

The Rangers played nearly half the game with 11 forwards after Jimmy Vesey got knocked out of the contest by Panthers forward Ryan Lomberg.

The fourth-line wing was hunched over on the bench for some time before he made his way to the locker room, where he remained for the remainder of the game with what the team described as an upper-body injury.

“He’s being evaluated,” Laviolette said. “So we’ll see.”

If Vesey is unable to go in Game 3, it’s possible that Blake Wheeler will make his Rangers playoff debut and compete in his first game since suffering a season-ending injury Feb. 15.

After Friday’s victory, the Rangers are 3-0 in playoff games that go to overtime this postseason.

With an assist on Vincent Trocheck’s first-period goal, Adam Fox recorded his first point since Game 2 of the second-round series against the Hurricanes.