Chytil, ‘Kid Line’ continues surge
NEW YORK — This was a shift for the ages: three Ranger lines building to a crescendo in the Tampa Bay Lightning’s zone with crisp passes, stick handling and skating in Wednesday night’s second period.
Until it was all too much for the reigning two-time Stanley Cup champions and all-world Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy.
Until ‘Kid Line’ center Filip Chytil’s second goal of the night turned this backand-forth boat race into a blowout 6-2 Game 1 Blueshirts win at the Garden to open this Eastern Conference Final.
“It was a great shift,” Chytil, 22, said of the Rangers spending more than two minutes straight in Tampa’s defensive zone prior to his pivotal goal. “We got the goal and momentum for the whole team… I’m happy I can help the team like this.”
Until the raucous Ranger crowd rained jeers of “Igor’s better!” on Vasilevskiy in the third period in support of Igor Shesterkin, again the difference between the pipes.
Vasilevskiy is supposed to be impenetrable. Tampa was the well-rested team coming off a sweep of the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Florida Panthers.
The Rangers were the ones who had to go seven games in both series, overcoming multiple game deficits to defeat both the Pittsburgh Penguins and Carolina Hurricanes to get here.
But Rangers coach Gerard Gallant said Tampa was “a little bit rusty” and “weren’t the same having nine days off.” So Gallant’s team capitalized, scoring the first goal in every period, beginning with Chris Kreider’s finish of a beautiful Mika Zibanejad feed 71 seconds into game.
And they’ll have the Garden rocking again in
Game 2 on Friday night.
The Stanley Cup spent Wednesday afternoon at the Giants’ facility in East Rutherford, N.J. And the Rangers’ fans can taste their first Cup Final appearance since 2014, although there is still a long way to go to dethrone Tampa.
One huge reason for confidence is Chytil — the 2017 Czechoslovakian firstround pick who now has five goals in the last three games — and ‘Kid Line’ wingers Kaapo Kakko (assist) and Alexis Lafreniere (two assists).
“That’s why we’re still here,” Gallant said. “We’re
getting scoring from that line. Those kids have stepped it up and played good hockey, no doubt.”
Chytil had eight goals in 67 games during his fourth full season on Broadway. Now he has six in 15 games this postseason alone, including back to back tallies at 10:09 and 15:43 of the second period.
“He’s the [third] longest tenured Ranger, so I don’t know how he can be considered a kid,” defenseman Jacob Trouba said of Chytil, who is outlasted on this roster only by Kreider and Zibanejad.
Chytil is only the fifth
Ranger ever to score seven career playoff goals before his 23rd birthday.
His second of the game, off a beautiful pass from defenseman K’andre Miller, extended the Rangers’ lead to a commanding 4-2. It was the product of a fantastic shift started by Ryan Strome’s line with Andrew Copp and Artemi Panarin (goal) chipping in.
Barclay Goodrow’s fourth line, with Ryan Reaves and Tyler Motte, continued their strong game to keep the momentum going and the puck moving.
Then the supremely skilled kids finished the job, a magnificent moment that saw the Ranger faithful rise and anticipate Chytil’s one-time finish over Vasilevskiy’s left shoulder to culminate in a wave of elation.
Some late shenanigans and scuffles from the Rangers’ and Lightning’s grinders sent the rabid fans home happy late in the third period.
What they should feel best about, though, is that these Rangers are highly skilled. They’re unafraid. And for one night here in Manhattan, they were the clearly better team facing an opponent that has lifted the Stanley Cup the past two years.
Maybe it will be the Rangers’ turn next.