Alarm bells got off in New York with Peter Laviolette’s shocking lineup change for tonight’s game

New York Rangers head coach Peter Laviolette has just confirmed on Wednesday morning that rookie forward Gabe Perreault will be a healthy scratch for tonight’s game against the visiting Philadelphia Flyers.

Laviolette revealed, per Mollie Walker, that confirms Brett Berard is coming in for Perreault instead.

Fans in New York had trouble with the Rangers’ head coach’s comments earlier this week when he revealed that he doesn’t address his team post-game and that, in fact, he doesn’t even enter the team’s dressing room.

This prompted many fans to for this be the last season for Laviolette, as a few have compared this situation with former Rangers head coach John Tortorella’s incident with the Flyers at the end of the March.

Now outrage has gone up a notch with his decision to sit Perreault seeing that the Rangers are officially burning a year of the kid’s entry-level contract only to scratch him after three games when you’re pretty much eliminated from the playoffs…
When asked about scratching Perreault, Laviolette answered, per Vince Z. Mercogliano that he believes the rookie will benefit from taking a step back for a game and going over some things with the coaches.

The 19-year-old has averaged 13:31 of ice time, posting a plus/minus of -1 while registering four shots on goal. The Blue Shirts have a 1-2-0 record with Perreault in the lineup.

I’m thinking this could be the final straw for many fans in New York.