Rangers center Vincent Trocheck out week-to-week with upper-body injury

PITTSBURGH — As Mike Sullivan returned to Pittsburgh for the first time since he and the Penguins parted ways last April, the new Rangers coach had a more immediate problem than controlling whatever emotions he was dealing with in returning to PPG Paints Arena.

He was coming back to Pittsburgh to face a team that had shut out the Rangers in their season opener Tuesday at the Garden, and the Blueshirts would be without first-line center Vincent Trocheck, who the Rangers announced Saturday will be out for an extended period with an upper-body injury.

Trocheck, a Pittsburgh native, left Thursday’s road win over Buffalo in the second period. The Rangers said Saturday that he will be out on a week-to-week basis.

“It sucks,’’ captain J.T. Miller said at Saturday’s morning skate. “He’s such a big part of the team. He’s a leader for the team, plays in all situations, but just his presence, being around, is .  .  . It’s only been half a day and it’s already a crappy feeling. I know what he means to this group and especially, not just his play, but his presence in the room.’’

“He’s a tough guy to replace,’’ Sullivan said. “He’s an extremely talented guy [who] plays in a lot of key situations for us, [is] one of our best center icemen in the faceoff circle and obviously plays in every situation, the power play, the penalty kill, and is part of our top six [forwards]. So those guys aren’t easy to replace.’’

With Trocheck out, Juuso Parssinen, who was a healthy scratch the first two games, entered the lineup, and Sullivan had to move some pieces around. Mika Zibanejad, who has been playing right wing on Miller’s line, shifted back to his natural center position and took Trocheck’s regular spot between wingers Artemi Panarin and Alexis Lafreniere.

Conor Sheary, who had been playing on the third line, moved up to take Zibanejad’s spot on Miller’s line. Parssinen, usually a center, played in Sheary’s spot at left wing on the third line with rookie Noah Laba and right wing Taylor Raddysh.

Asked why he broke up the Miller-Zibanejad duo to move Zibanejad to center, Sullivan said: “I think we need balance, and we need to give some of our other offensive people a center iceman that can think the game at their level and .  .  . set them up for success.”

As for returning to Pittsburgh, where he coached for 10-plus years and led the Penguins to back-to-back Stanley Cup championships in 2016 and 2017, Sullivan said it was an odd experience.

“Yeah, it’s a lot different, obviously,’’ he said of entering the arena as the visiting coach. “Being on the opposite side, it’s not something that I’ve given a whole lot of thought to, quite honestly, but I’m obviously so grateful for the opportunity that I had here to coach the Penguins for the amount of time that I was able to do it. We had a lot of good memories, and I’m grateful for that.’’

Sullivan was asked if he was happier to get his return to Pittsburgh out of the way early.

“When I saw the schedule in the summertime, I was hoping we didn’t see [Pittsburgh] till March,’’ he said. “But it is what it is. It’s something that I can’t control. It’s an inevitability, and it’s just part of the process. So when the puck drops tonight, it’s going to be a hockey game [and] we’re going to do everything we can to try to win it.’’

Because the Rangers already played Pittsburgh in their season opener — a 3-0 loss — Sullivan was asked what he learned from that game that would help him Saturday. He said opening night jitters contributed to the loss, plus the fact that Miller and Panarin were still trying to get their legs under them after dealing with injuries.

“They’re important guys for us,’’ he said, “and with each game that they play, I think they’re going to get that much better.’’

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.