Rangers’ Julien Gauthier shines in chance from Sammy Blais’ benching

Sammy Blais’ third-period benching in the Rangers’ loss at Pittsburgh on Tuesday that snapped their seven-game winning streak carried over to the next contest — and his replacement made the most of the opportunity. 

After Blais took an undisciplined penalty when he punched Penguins forward Brock McGinn in retaliation to tee up the home team for their go-ahead power-play goal, he was a healthy scratch for the 5-3 win over the Islanders on Thursday night at the Garden. 

As a result, Julien Gauthier drew back into the lineup after serving as a healthy scratch in the previous three straight games. The 25-year-old Gauthier had a hand in two plays that allowed the Rangers to tie the score, including his fifth goal of the season in the second period. 

In addition to scoring the goal that made it 2-2 off a strong move to the net, Gauthier sent the shot on net that Barclay Goodrow deflected in to knot the score 3-3 three minutes into the third period. It was Gauthier’s second multi-point game of the season. 

There was some extra energy to Gauthier’s game, which was certainly a result of coming off his longest stretch of scratches this season. 

“It’s never pleasant, honestly, when you’re trying to fit in, trying to get back in as much as possible,” Gauthier said after the win. “I thought my game was good tonight, but overall this year has been really good. Sometimes it’s just not fun or easy to be the scratched guy, but when you go back in the lineup, like tonight, you try to make the most of it.” 

Gauthier, who enjoyed a run of 17 contests in a row before he was relegated to street clothes, primarily skated in his usual right-wing spot on the fourth line, next to Vitali Kravtsov and Jonny Brodzinski. He also spent some time next to Alexis Lafreniere and Filip Chytil after Kaapo Kakko’s costly turnover in the second. 

“He was upset and disappointed,” head coach Gerard Gallant said of Gauthier’s scratches. “He wasn’t scratched for bad play, he was scratched from coaches making decisions. We liked the way he played, we just wanted some different kind of players. He came in tonight and did a real good job. Played hard and scored a great goal.” 

It marked just the second time in Blais’ Rangers tenure that the 26-year-old forward was a healthy scratch. The first was last week against the Maple Leafs, when Gallant wanted to get Kravtsov back into the lineup. 

Blais, who has five assists in 30 games this season, was called for roughing at the 18:09 mark of the second period against the Penguins. He did not take a single shift afterward, including the entire third period. 

Defenseman Libor Hajek was scratched for a fifth straight game in favor of Ben Harpur, who has provided a more physical presence on the back end throughout this stretch.