EDMONTON, Alberta — Artemi Panarin said he didn’t feel anything on his stick when the Rangers scored the third goal of their 6-4 win over the Canucks on Wednesday night in Vancouver.

The shot from the point came from newly acquired defenseman Niko Mikkola, whom Panarin pointed at immediately as the puck soared past rookie goalie Arturs Silovs and to the back of the net. The score was at first credited to Mikkola, but later was changed to give Panarin his sixth goal in the past two games. While it’s probably too late for a scoring change now, Mikkola’s ability to accurately put the puck on net is still encouraging.

The 6-foot-4, 209-pound Mikkola wasn’t brought in to contribute on offense, but it would be an added bonus.

After the Rangers received four points from defensemen Wednesday night, the club’s D corps has now posted a total of 138 points this season, which is the second most in the NHL behind only the Sharks’ 141. Between Adam Fox, K’Andre Miller and sometimes Jacob Trouba, the Rangers have enough offense-minded blueliners.

What the Rangers need is another stay-at-home defenseman who knows when to pick his spots in joining the rush.

“[Mikkola’s] a real good shutdown defenseman,” Rangers president and general manager Chris Drury said after acquiring Mikkola, along with Vladimir Tarasenko, from the Blues on Feb. 9. “Obviously, he’s got size and reach, like K’Andre [Miller] does. Lot of good reports on him. We’ve done our homework and feel good about adding him to our D core. For the first time, too, it gives us a Finn for [Kaapo] Kakko to hang with, which is good.”

Since Mikkola joined the Rangers, he and Kakko have basically been attached at the hip. Kakko said the 26-year-old has been able to turn to him for even the smallest things, such as contacting him on FaceTime when he doesn’t know what to wear. That has been a major benefit for both Finns.

Head coach Gerard Gallant has shown a preference for bigger, stronger defensemen. After alternating at the start of the season between Libor Hajek and Zac Jones, who are both now at AHL Hartford, the Rangers brought up 6-6, 231-pound Ben Harpur from the Wolf Pack.

Harpur turned a professional tryout with the Wolf Pack into a two-year extension with the Rangers and skated in 21 straight games next to Braden Schneider. Since the trade for Mikkola, however, Harpur has been relegated to the seventh-defenseman role.

“Niko is a big, physical defenseman,” Gallant said last week. “It’s a guy we’ve always liked when we watched him play when we talk about defensemen.”