Rangers hoping Braden Schneider can make positive impact in Adam Fox’s place

Braden Schneider held his own in Tuesday’s win over Dallas at Madison Square Garden, tasked with helping replace the injured Adam Fox as part of the top defensive pair for the Rangers.

Playing alongside Vladislav Gavrikov, Schneider led a strong effort versus the Stars, as the Rangers were the better team throughout the night.

And with Fox on injured reserve and out indefinitely, expect to see more of Schneider there.

“I thought they were solid,” head coach Mike Sullivan said of the pair. “They’re both very good defenders. [Schneider] is a mobile guy and has some physical edge to his game. When they defend hard for us, they’re effective.”

Schneider hoped to make the most of his opportunity.

“You want to make sure you’re impacting the game in some positive way,” Schneider said. “We did a good job of making things hard on them and we had some good chances in the [offensive] zone.”

Considering Fox’s dominance in that part of the game — with a team-high 23 assists, as well as 26 points, second only to Artemi Panarin’s 28 — others will have to chip in.

Gavrikov ended up scoring the game-winner in overtime Wednesday, while Schneider enjoyed the opportunity to play more meaningful minutes.

“The game is the same, but it gives you a bit more confidence,” Schneider said. “You have more pop in your step and you’re a little quicker in your decisions with the puck. It felt good.”

The loss of Fox was also significant to the first power play unit, as Sullivan opted to go with five forwards, with Panarin running the point.

The Rangers went 0-for-5 with the man advantage against Dallas, but Sullivan remains confident the group will work, including Panarin on the blue line.

“I thought they got better as the game went on,’’ Sullivan said, pointing to a four-minute power play early in the third period. “They were zipping around.”

And the coach noted it might take some time for them to get accustomed to the setup, especially Panarin.

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“We put [Panarin] in a spot he’s not accustomed to playing,” Sullivan said. “As talented as he is, there’s [still] gonna be a little bit of a learning curve there. I think he’s gonna be a fast study because of his intellect and his talent. They just need more repetition out there. … They didn’t score, but they were knocking on the door a couple times.The only thing I’d like to see different is for one of those [shots] to go in the net.”

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Will Cuylle, Noah Laba and Brett Berard created some chances on the third line, with Cuylle and Laba having five shots apiece against Dallas.

“There’s a lot of speed on that line,” Sullivan said. “I’ve said speed is hard to defend and when they play with that type of pace, they were connected, and had a collective effort. … They used their speed to their advantage.”

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Sam Carrick got a season-low 6:49 of ice time Tuesday after playing just 6:55 in the previous game, a loss to Tampa Bay, but Sullivan said nothing is ailing Carrick: “That’s just how the game played out.” … Adam Edstrom remains day-to-day with a lower-body injury.