Rangers may have found a new duo with Will Cuylle and Noah Laba

Way back in the first few days of training camp, new Rangers coach Mike Sullivan talked about the idea of forward duos, like Mika Zibanejad and J.T. Miller, or Artemi Panarin and Vincent Trocheck, as a logical place to start when putting forward lines together. It made sense, he said, to take advantage of existing chemistry between players.

Trocheck’s early-season injury shelved that idea for a time, but with his return to the lineup this week, Sullivan finally was able to put he and Panarin back together, and reunite Miller and Zibanejad.

And along with those two pairs, the coach seemed to find a new duo that he likes: Will Cuylle and Noah Laba.

Cuylle, the third-year winger, and Laba, the surprising rookie center, were expected to be together again Wednesday when the Rangers kicked off a two-game road trip in Tampa against the Lightning, playing on a third line with veteran winger Conor Sheary. Cuylle and Laba played together with Taylor Raddysh in Monday’s 6-3 win over Nashville at Madison Square Garden, and Cuylle scored a goal, off an assist from Laba.

“I think potentially, it could really work,’’ Sullivan said after Tuesday’s practice of putting the 6-3, 214-pound Laba and the 6-3, 212-pound Cuylle together. “To have the ability to put Will Cuylle on our third line gives us, I think, an offensive threat. Will's a good player on both sides of the puck. He can skate. He's a solid defensive player, but he brings an offensive threat to that line. I think it just gives us more balance on both sides of the puck.

“And we've talked a lot about Labs' game overall, but he's had a real steep learning curve. He gets better and better right in front of our eyes.’’

Putting the two together meant dropping Cuylle, 23, out of the top-six forward group to play with Laba, 22, on the third line. But Cuylle said his playing time against Nashville was roughly the same as it has been all season. Elevated to the first power-play unit, and serving as a second-pair forward on the penalty kill, he gets extra ice time on special teams, and he played 17 minutes and six seconds against Nashville. His season average is 17:26.

Plus, he said, he enjoys playing with Laba.

“Laba's pretty fun to play with,’’ Cuylle said. “I feel like we gel well together. Every time we are on the same line, we usually generate a lot. And I like that … he likes to carry the puck a lot, and lets me kind of build up speed away from the puck and get to the net. So I feel like we have pretty good chemistry.’’

So does Laba.

“I think we work really well together,’’ Laba said. “I think we kind of play that similar style. So it's kind of nice to have another guy who's skating full speed ahead, and feel like we create chances off that.’’

Sullivan first put the two together in the first game of the recent Western Canada road trip, with Cuylle as the veteran on a new line with callup Brennan Othmann. The Rangers lost that game, and the line was broken up for the next game in Vancouver.

But when Sullivan decided to stack his top three forwards – Panarin, Miller and Zibanejad – on the top line for the final game of the trip in Seattle, he put Cuylle and Laba on the second line, with Alexis Lafreniere. The trio played great that night, with Laba scoring on assists from Cuylle and Lafreniere.

Getting Trocheck back in the lineup, and bringing up top prospect Gabe Perreault to play with Zibanejad and Miller on the top line, allowed Sullivan to drop Cuylle down to the third line to play with Laba. And that made the lineup much deeper.

“I feel like we have four very strong, capable lines,’’ Cuylle said. “When you look at our lineup as constructed last game, every line is really effective, [and] pretty much can play against any line [on the opposing team]. Like, we were going against [Jonathan] Marchessault-[Steve] Stamkos [against Nashville] for most of most of the night. So if you're able to get quality minutes out of your third line against the other team's top producers, it kind of opens it up for your top six [forwards].’’

Rangers sign goalie

The Rangers added a veteran goalie to the organization by signing Spencer Martin to a two-year contract. Martin, 29, has a 24-30-8 record in 66 NHL games with Colorado, Vancouver, Columbus and Carolina. He will report to Hartford (AHL).

Newsday's Anthony Rieber contributed to this story.

By Colin Stephenson

colin.stephenson@newsday.comColinSNewsday

Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.