TARRYTOWN - Artemi Panarin was missing in action for Thursday's practice at the MSG Training Center, with Rangers head coach Peter Laviolette reluctant to discuss his star forward's status moving forward.

"It's an evaluation," he said. "Right now, he's day-to-day."

Panarin exited Tuesday's 5-4 preseason win over the New Jersey Devils after only four shifts with what the team announced as a lower-body injury, presumably the same ailment that prevented him from finishing his first exhibition appearance on Sept. 24.

Laviolette admitted Tuesday it was cause for concern, but also referred to the decision to pull the team's leading scorer for five years running as "precautionary."

It came as no surprise that Panarin didn't practice Thursday, but the more pressing question is whether he'll be available for Wednesday's regular-season opener in Pittsburgh. Laviolette was purposely vague on that front, but didn't seem overly concerned about the 32-year-old's lack of preseason reps.

"There are things that happen inside of camp," he said. "And, so, what I want, or whether I think it's enough, it's all kind of irrelevant, because this is actually what happened. The completion of those two games didn't happen."

Panarin almost certainly won't play in Friday's preseason finale, a 7 p.m. contest on the road against the Islanders, with Laviolette confirming that prospect Brennan Othmann will fill his left-wing spot next to Vincent Trocheck and Alexis Lafrenière. That will make him the only player in camp to appear in all six exhibition contests, with the 21-year-old registering four points (one goal and three assists) with a minus-one rating to this point.

Othmann is likely ticketed for AHL Hartford once the Rangers' regular forwards are healthy, but this signals he's the next man up in the event of an injury to a top-nine winger.

"If you're still here, you're still getting looked at and you're still getting evaluated," Laviolette said. "Like a lot of players, I don't think everything's just been peaks the whole way. ... I think there's been some really good things. There are things that we talk to him (about) and show and want to get better at. A lot of players fall into that category, but there's also been some good things that he's done."

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Power play units come into focus

Panarin's absence also opened a spot on the power play, with Lafrenière slotting in on an otherwise familiar top unit with Trocheck, Adam Fox, Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad.

It's an opportunity Lafrenière has been jockeying for and would likely assume if any of the usual five participants have to miss time. He could push for a role regardless, although it's difficult to determine which PP regular he'd replace.

"There are two parts to that," Laviolette said. "One, Panarin is not out there, and so that changes things right away. And two, we're trying to get ready for the start of the year, and we're also trying to give work to the units (Friday) night that possibly could be in place. You don't know how everything's going to play out. There's the point of what you have available, what you want to accomplish (Friday) night, and what you want to get ready for in game one. Sometimes the game (Friday) night helps game one (of the regular season), so you want to look at things."

The second unit featured Jonny Brodzinski, Filip Chytil, Kaapo Kakko, K'Andre Miller and Reilly Smith.

Miller appears to have the edge over Zac Jones as the point man on PP2, as the 24-year-old's role continues to evolve.

"I've been working towards that goal for the last two, three years now," he said. "Having that in the back of my head, knowing that's where I wanted to be, and knowing that I have the skill − have the talent − to do it. I'm just making sure I put in the work to produce and do what I can to help the power play out."

Miller-Fox pair looks like a thing

It also looks like Miller could stake his claim next to Fox on the top defensive pair.

It may only be temporary while the Rangers wait for the return of Ryan Lindgren, who's been out for over a week with an upper-body injury and has yet to resume skating, but trying out a Miller-Fox combo has long been a source of fascination. They've logged only 227:35 sporadic minutes together across the last three seasons combined, with this representing a chance to see if there's any chemistry.

If all goes well Friday, the high-upside duo could get the green light for the regular season.

"It just comes down to understanding each other," Fox said. "There's little intricacies in the D zone, like knowing where a guy's going to be as a support and things like that. We both can create offense, and he's got a great stick defensively, but I think once you're able to understand those little intricacies of support and communication is when a pair could really take off. It takes reps to do that, but that's what we have this for."

Matthew Robertson's final shot?

Friday's lineup should look very close to what we'll see on opening night, including a second D pair featuring Jones and captain Jacob Trouba.

The third pair may be the only undecided spot, and while the competition had presumably dwindled down to veterans Connor Mackey and Chad Ruhwedel and prospect Victor Mancini, Thursday's practice reminded everyone of a possible sleeper candidate.

Matthew Robertson has plummeted down the pecking order since being selected in the second round of the 2019 draft, with his intriguing toolset never quite rounding into form. He's gone through three professional seasons without making an NHL debut and then got hurt for part of this camp, which limited the 23-year-old to one preseason appearance. But Laviolette confirmed he'll get another Friday on the bottom pair with Braden Schneider.

"We think he's a good player," the coach said. "I watched him down in the rookie games and I thought he was really good. ... There was a plan to get him additional games, but (couldn't) just based on what happened (with the injury). But he is back, he's practiced now, and he was in a pair today that we're going to play tomorrow."

Robertson remains a relative longshot, but then again, it's hard to get a solid read on where the Rangers are leaning for that sixth and final D spot. He would have to clear waivers before being assigned to the AHL, which may factor into the decision. (The same goes for Mackey and Ruhwedel, with Mancini the only remaining defenseman who's waiver exempt.)

Vincent Z. Mercogliano is the New York Rangers beat reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Read more of his work at lohud.com/sports/rangers/ and follow him on Twitter @vzmercogliano.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Artemi Panarin injury: Rangers' star forward missing from practice