Jimmy Vesey became the latest Ranger to earn a benching from coach David Quinn.

The winger was an observer for the Rangers’ 7-2 loss to the Penguins on Wednesday night at the Garden, designated as a healthy scratch for just the second time in his three-year career.

Quinn had not planned on putting Filip Chytil back in the lineup so quickly, after the rookie was the one scratched Monday at St. Louis, but Vesey’s play against the Blues forced his hand.

“Jimmy and I have had a couple conversations,” Quinn said. “He understands what he needs to do to be the player he’s capable of being and why he’s not in tonight. We’ll keep that between he and I, but he’s a guy that has obviously had a pretty good year but a little bit of a downward spiral right now. We just need more out of him.”

Through 38 games, Vesey was fourth on the Rangers with 20 points (10 goals, 10 assists).

The game marked a new chapter in the long friendship between Quinn and Penguins coach Mike Sullivan, with the first NHL matchup of the former Boston University teammates.

Quinn had used Sullivan, the former Rangers draft pick and assistant coach under John Tortorella, as a sounding board before deciding to take the Blueshirts job last summer.

“We’re not brothers, despite the fact everyone thinks we look alike,” Quinn said.

But they are bred from the same hockey philosophies ingrained by coach Jack Parker at BU, where Quinn and Sullivan overlapped from 1986-88.



“There was only one standard there,” Sullivan said. “If you didn’t buy in, you didn’t play, it was as simple as that. Jack always had a great line that I still remember to this date. He would always say to us, ‘Let me explain this to you, not so you can understand, but so you can’t possibly misunderstand.’ That was his line. If he dragged you down the hallway at Walter Brown Arena, that was pretty much what you were going to get.”

Henrik Lundqvist’s fifth All-Star selection puts him second among goalies in franchise history, trailing Ed Giacomin, who had six. Mats Zuccarello also has a shot at the All-Star team through the new “Last Men In” ballot, which is open for fan voting Jan. 3-10.

Defenseman Freddy Claesson returned to the lineup while Tony DeAngelo joined Brendan Smith and Vesey as healthy scratches.