Strome, Howden fill Rangers’ void at center

Those discussions about Filip Chytil possibly coming up from AHL Hartford might have to wait for another day.

As the 20-year-old center was stuffing the stat sheet with the Wolf Pack, the varsity squad finally got things on track when the Rangers broke a five-game winless streak with a 6-2 victory over the Sabres on Thursday night at the Garden.

Chytil, who has three goals and eight points through the team’s first six games going into Hartford’s busy three-game weekend, was given the first crack at the role of second-line center in training camp. But he couldn’t secure that spot and it seemed like the team’s biggest void.

Yet Thursday, it was pivots Ryan Strome and Brett Howden leading the charge, as Strome scored twice and Howden added a goal and an assist. It made Chytil’s return not seem immediately necessary.

“I know he’s doing very well down there,” coach David Quinn said. “If he continues to play to the level we know he’s capable of playing, he’ll be back here.”

Strome is versatile and can play the wing just as easily, so he always seemed a stopgap at that spot. Howden is more of a twoway center than a top-six dazzler. But those two surely got it done against the league-leading Sabres.

“I thought both those guys played very well,”

Quinn said. “They had strong nights.”

Defenseman Tony DeAngelo scored his third goal in the past two games, and it happened to coincide with his 24th birthday. He said the only other time he might have scored on his birthday was in juniors.

Adam Fox collected his first career point, assisting on Chris Kreider’s first goal of the season late in the third period.

Kaapo Kakko had a great chance to score his second career goal when he had a semi-breakaway early in the second period, but his backhand attempt hit the post. The 18-year-old rookie who was taken with the No. 2 pick in the draft was switched to a line with Zibanejad and Kreider and got 11:47 of ice time.