The Rangers still hope that both first-line center J.T. Miller and top scorer Artemi Panarin will be in the lineup opening night despite recent absences.

Miller returned to practice in a red non-contact jersey on Friday, and Panarin was skating on his own with a coach.

Miller, who hadn't practiced with the Blueshirts since exiting Monday's session with a noncontact lower-body injury, rejoined the first line between Mika Zibanejad and Will Cuylle.

Panarin, who took line rushes Thursday morning but was held out of the preseason game at night for precautionary reasons, has an upper-body injury, which is a different label from the lower-body one earlier in training camp.

Head coach Mike Sullivan said it's not a new injury, though.

"We're trying to err on the side of caution with these guys, as we've said all along," Sullivan said Friday in Tarrytown. "Artemi skated this morning before the team skated, and so it's not that he's not on the ice. He is. And then we'll continue to rehab him and go through a return-to-play process that he's been going through.

"We're hopeful that he'll be ready. He's certainly making strides."

While Sullivan declined to put a time frame on how long Miller will need to skate in the red jersey for, the fact that he could at least practice with the Rangers on Friday was a "real encouraging sign." It likely won't be long, Sullivan added. Miller instantly provided a spark to the Blueshirts last season after getting acquired from the Canucks and returning to the Garden -- collecting 35 points in 32 games -- before getting named their new captain last month.

Conor Sheary stepped into the spot of Panarin -- who collected 209 combined points the last two campaigns and is entering a contract year -- on the second line alongside Vincent Trocheck and Alexis Lafrenière on Friday, with Brett Berard rotating in.

Adam Edstrom's first preseason game Sept. 25 was a wake-up call. A reminder that despite recovering from surgery for a lower-body injury and despite practicing throughout training camp, he still hadn't played in a true game since February.

So he shed any lingering rust that night against the Islanders. Edstrom felt like himself -- a key piece of the Rangers fourth line alongside Matt Rempe and Sam Carrick -- again by the time Thursday's exhibition arrived, when he was credited with a fluke goal after a Devils defenseman's clearing pass ricocheted off his skate.

In his second full NHL season, after logging 11 games in 2023-24 and 51 last year before the injury, Edstrom wants to continue making offensive strides. He doesn't look at the label of being a fourth-liner or third-liner -- that's for others to assign. Edstrom, Carrick and Rempe found ways to generate goals when together in 2024-25, and with the trio likely to open the season together, they will have another chance to build on that production that stretches beyond physicality.

"We have enough skill in our line to put up points and be a contributor, too," Edstrom told The Post. "We're not just necessarily a power line that's just out there to grind."

The Rangers travel to Boston to face the Bruins on Saturday for their final preseason game.

Rangers hopeful two stars will be available for season opener