I do not expect this latest alignment up front to last. Neither apparently does Gerard Gallant, the head coach who created it.

“You never know” were the words, or at least an accurate enough depiction of them, following Monday’s 6-2 victory over the Panthers at the Garden in which the Rangers were far less formidable than the score would indicate.

Gallant was smiling when he said that.

Of course he was. Changing lines is no longer a bug when it comes to Gallant’s approach. It has been a feature. The team has used 49 different line combinations over the course of 47 games — and that includes only those units intact at a match’s start. Last year, over 82 games, Gallant sent 79 different forward combos over the boards. The Rangers should be used to it by now.