Gardiner skated with Travis Dermott, not Nikita Zaitsev, at practice on Wednesday.

EDGE Analysis

Gardiner has alternated good and bad play, so putting him down on the third pairing could be a way to diminish the team's exposure when he does something bad. Or it could just be an experiment that doesn't last beyond Wednesday. Gardiner is struggling through a period of depressed output -- he has just six assists in his last 20 games. And he hasn't scored a goal since Dec. 4. Maybe this jolts his game back to life.