Rangers’ Peter Laviolette bets on Filip Chytil’s roster

Larry Brooks

NHL

By Larry Brooks

RALEIGH, N.C. — This is my take and not Peter Laviolette’s, but I think the reason Rangers head coach inserted Filip Chytil into the lineup for Game 3 of the half -conference final Thursday after a 188-day absence is that he believes the club will need No. 72 to go the long haul, and what better time to bring him back than with a 2-0 series lead ?

And now, with a bubbling and healthy Chytil back in place, the Blueshirts are just nine wins away from a parade through the Canyon of Heroes, nine wins away from hoisting the Stanley Cup after recording their seventh win straight of the tournament, this one 3-2 in overtime on Artemi Panarin’s exquisite deflection at 1:43 for the fourth tournament winner for the number 10.

Chytil went through his 12:02 of ice time without a care in the world. He continued. He suspended twice in the third period. No one would have known that the 24-year-old hadn’t played since Nov. 2 in the 10th game of the regular season, when he suffered what appears to be the fourth concussion of his career. It was as if Chytil was jumping onto an Acela in mid-flight.

And, man, does Laviolette deserve a lot of credit for that. The coach changed the lineup after six consecutive victories. He cut Matt Rempe after the Rangers won their last 15 games with him in the lineup.

Laviolette spat into the wind and the Rangers flew away.

The coach supports them and the players have theirs.

“As you saw, he worked very hard. He was out for a while, he came back and the medical staff, the training staff, even the strength and conditioning coach and assistants have done an incredible job over the last month to prepare him for possible reintegration,” Laviolette said about Chytil, who joined the team. team for practice on April 12 after being shut down following a setback in late January. “And he attacked every day to get to the point where we came to an agreement that, that moment was now, it was approaching.

“This last game, with only one day of rest, ended late, we traveled here, we didn’t have the (last) change anymore, we could choose what we wanted to do. We really had to maximize the bench as much as possible and it was the perfect opportunity to get back into the lineup and, much like our game, I thought it was getting better and better.

The last game Laviolette was referring to was Tuesday’s Game 2, a double-overtime win in which Rempe didn’t come off the bench after 17:27 of the second period. Laviolette said Wednesday he would form the best-suited lineup for that game.

Chytil was on the left wing on the third line with Alexander Wennberg in the middle and Kaapo Kakko on the right, while Will Cuylle moved to the fourth line with Barclay Goodrow and Jimmy Vesey. The Blueshirts managed to get the fourth line with fairly regularity once the game became a five-on-five battle rather than a special teams showcase for the Rangers.

“I love this team, I love these players, I love everyone in the organization,” said Chytil, the 20th overall pick in the 2017 draft who made his debut at age 18 under the direction of Alain Vigneault. “At one point I thought I wanted to come back, and I did everything for it, and here we are today.”

Chytil made just one shot in five attempts. He finished tied for third on the team with – wait for it – two hits. He took what he gave and gloried in it.

“I never felt so good when someone hit me or I hit someone,” Chytil said with a wide smile. “I even got a stick in the face at one point and I was like, ‘Yeah, give me more.’ »

The Rangers want more. They’re going to do the sweeping on Saturday. They are aiming for the Stanley Cup. It’s a team that believes in itself, it’s a team that believes in its structure, it’s a team that believes in the technical staff.

Of course, three wins in a series does not equal four. The Rangers will have to seize the opportunity to finish Saturday against a Carolina club that was swept by Florida in the conference finals last year. Maybe this is a sort of last dance for the Candy Canes. They certainly won’t look back in Game 4.

There is still a lot to do. They will do it with Chytil.

“This team is incredible, what it did without me all season,” said number 72, who started the season as a second-line center between Panarin and Lafrenière. “But I know that with me we can be even better.”

Seven down.

It remains new.