SUNRISE, Fla. — Filip Chytil was a standout in the Rangers’ 5-3 loss to the Panthers on Monday night at Amerank Bank Arena, scoring the team’s first goal on the way to briefly tying the game up in the second period.
Flying up the ice and carrying the puck into the offensive zone, the Czech center dished it off before crashing the net and putting back a rebound to cut Florida’s lead in half, 2-1, at the 14:25 mark.
Chytil finished with a game-high seven shots on goal.
He had jump, was dynamic and hard on pucks.
And yet, head coach Peter Laviolette opted to have Mika Zibanejad on the ice instead of Chytil for the six-on-four power play while vying to tie the game with an empty net in the final moments of regulation.
“There’s a group that we work on things and we go over things, there’s a group that’s been together,” Laviolette said when asked if there was thought to have Chytil out there in the end given his strong game. “So, I mean, he played well. He was supposed to be going out on the second unit and he just never got the change with the person he was changing for.”
Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov then scored on the empty net to ice the game.
Since returning from a seven-game absence with an upper-body injury, Chytil hasn’t skated with the same conviction he had at the start of the season. He’s posted seven goals and six assists for 13 points in 29 games.
“I felt great,” Chytil said after the game. “I felt great playing the puck a lot. We had a lot of chances, I had a lot of chances. Goals decide the game and that’s the thing I’m working on every day. Today it could be more than one, but it’s just something I have to work on.”
Goalie Igor Shesterkin, who turned 29 on Monday, saved 21 of the 25 shots he faced as he fell to 11-15-1 on the season.
Laviolette unsuccessfully challenged the Panthers’ second goal of the night from Mackie Samoskevich for goaltender interference.
He is now 2-3 on challenges this season.
“Igor goes to make a save with his glove and his glove gets pushed out of the way while it’s still in the blue paint,” he said. “I mean, I think it’s a save. To me, it’s 100-percent goaltender interference based on what we’ve learned from the league and continue to learn from the league. It’s goaltender interference.”
The Rangers are scheduled to be off Tuesday before they are expected to return to the ice on Wednesday for practice at MSG Training Center.
Credit: Source link
