Worlds will be Chytil’s proving ground Proving ground
OTTAWA, Ont. — Filip Chytil was kept at AHL Hartford because the Rangers wanted one of their prized prospects close by, just in case they needed him.
But with an invite from his native Czech national team to play in the World Junior Championship, the Blueshirts loaned their 18-year-old firstround pick in the hopes that the international tournament would aid in his development.
“My experience of the World Juniors — I’ve been there twice — for a junior player, it’s one of the best experience you can have,” coach Alain Vigneault said before his team lost to the Senators, 3-2, on Wednesday night at Canadian Tire Center. “You’re talking about representing your country, you’re talking about playing in high-pressure environments, important games. So I think for the development of any young player, if you have the opportunity to represent your country, it’s something you can’t pass up.
“Filip was given the opportunity and I think it’ll make him a better player.”
Chytil made the Rangers team out of training camp. But he was quite overwhelmed when the games started to count, getting into just two NHL contests before being sent down.
General manager Jeff Gorton decided to keep him in the AHL rather than send him back to his junior team in the Czech Republic, with Chytil feeling he was very close to being a NHL player. He dealt with two different injuries while playing for the Wolf Pack, first a foot/leg issue after blocking a shot on Oct. 24, and then a cervical strain suffered on a hit into the board’s stanchion on Dec. 2 from which he had not yet returned.
He should be ready for the tournament, which traditionally starts on the day after Christ-
mas — Boxing Day, to Canadians. And the hope is that he plays well and returns more ready to join the Rangers.
“He’s going through the development of any young player,” Vigneault said. “He’s coming along real well. We know that we’ve got a player there with a lot of potential.”
Henrik Lundqvist started in goal and made the 20,000th save of his career early in the first period. Lundqvist is the 15th player in history to reach that mark, and only Jacques Plante had allowed fewer goals (1,739) at the time he reached the plateau as Lundqvist (1,749).
Odds are that Lundqvist will split this weekend’s back-to-back with Ondrej Pavelec, starting with the Kings in the Garden on Friday night and then a 5 p.m. game in Boston on Saturday.
Defenseman Marc Staal played his 720th career game, all with the Rangers, passing Andy Bathgate for sole possession of 11th place on the franchise’s all-time games played list.
The lineup stayed the same for the sixth straight game, with defenseman Steven Kampfer remaining a healthy scratch. “I remember the game in Dallas, we were just flat and none of us had our legs that night and we couldn’t get going and they completely dominated us,” Anders Lee said. “I didn’t feel like they dominated us tonight. I think it was more they capitalized on their opportunities.” Coming off his best game of the year, Jaroslav Halak allowed a pair of first-period goals and two more in the first 9:21 of the second period. His night ended early as coach Doug Weight pulled him after the fourth goal for Thomas Greiss. “It’s frustrating,” coach Doug Weight said. “We’re all frustrated. I’m sure [Halak] is too. We want to get a roll together.” Lee made sure the Islanders didn’t get shut out 5-0 again, scoring his 18th and 19th goals of the year in the third period as he cleaned up a pair of rebounds, though it served as little consolation.
Just as they did to the Rangers two nights earlier, the Stars jumped on the Islanders early with a big advantage in shots. Tyler Pitlick made it a 1-0 lead 7:37 into the game when he tucked home a rebound after a puck ricocheted off the end boards.
The Stars’ second goal was one Halak likely wanted back as soon as it trickled through his pads. As he looked back to find the puck after Alexander Radulov wristed a shot on net, it slid past the goal line to give the Stars a 2-0 lead at 15:46 of the first.
“We should have been up 2-0 in the first period and had a lot of chances,” Weight said. “It wasn’t a Rembrandt, but we were part of it. We generated enough to win the game, that’s just how I see it.”
The Islanders got just five shots on net in the second period — though two more hit the pipes — while the Stars continued to fire away.
Remi Elie slapped home a rebound on a delayed penalty for the Stars’ third goal just over a minute in and then Jamie Benn ended Halak’s night when he ripped a wrister that got through to make it a 4-0 lead.
“Some things didn’t go our way, but certainly I don’t think we helped ourselves,” said John Tavares, who notched a pair of assists. “The first half of the game, we just seemed a little sluggish.”
The Stars even got to Greiss, just 21 seconds into the third period as Pitlick redirected a shot fired in by John Klingberg from the point.
Stars goalie Kari Lehtonen stole the spotlight instead, making 32 saves — including a few clutch ones when it was still a 1-0 game — to record his 300th career win.
“It was one of those nights,” Cal Clutterbuck said. “We hit like six posts, they hit three, they went in, ours didn’t. … You have nights like that. It is what it is.”
Halak was coming off his best game of the year, when he made 31 saves Monday in a 3-1 win over the Capitals, though the momentum was short-lived.
Up next? A trip to Columbus, where on Thursday the Islanders will again face a team that beat them 5-0. That came on opening night.
“The sun will come up,” Weight said, “and we gotta get back to work.”