Filip Chytil scores game-winner in third period for Rangers
The Rangers' Filip Chytil whoops it up after his third-period goal against the Stars in a 2-1 victory on Monday night, Nov. 19, 2018, at Madison Square Garden. Credit: Jim McIsaac
Night after night, as the games piled up and the goals refused to come for 19-year-old rookie Filip Chytil, Rangers coach David Quinn kept saying he had a feeling that once the first one went in, a bunch more would follow.
Well, the first one went in for Chytil against Vancouver on Nov. 12 and the goals really did start coming — one in every game since that power-play goal.
Chytil scored for the fourth consecutive game on Monday night, breaking a third-period tie and lifting the Rangers to a 2-1 victory over the Dallas Stars at Madison Square Garden. It was their second straight win and eighth in the last 10 games (8-1-1).
Chytil, one of two first-round picks by the Blueshirts in 2017, became the first Rangers teenager to score in four straight games.
“I’d love to tell you, absolutely, I saw it coming, but no,’’ Quinn said with a smile after the game. “Listen, he’s a talented player and I knew once he got one, more would come. I didn’t think it would be four in a row, and we’re certainly happy it’s four in a row, and he’s getting rewarded for all his hard work.’’
Chytil, who was goal-less in the first 17 games of the season, pounced on a turnover in the neutral zone and turned on the jets to enter the Dallas zone and fire a top-of-the-right-circle wrist shot over the catching glove of goaltender Anton Khudobin at 4:32 of the third period.
“I feel much more confident after every game,’’ Chytil said. “I can’t say after the first 17 games, when I didn’t score a goal, I didn’t have confidence. I was confident. But after the first goal, it’s more and more. And at this period, I am happy that we are winning and I can help the team with goals.’’
The Rangers (11-8-2, 24 points) then had to find a way to protect the lead, a task they’ve had some trouble with this season. They did it without too much stress — Chytil did ice the puck once, as he shot for the empty net at the other end and missed — but goaltender Henrik Lundqvist (16 saves) bailed him out with a glove save with 1:29 to go, allowing the Rangers to get a change and get fresh troops on to kill the rest of the game. Now it’s on to a rematch Wednesday at the Garden with the Islanders, who beat them Thursday in Brooklyn.
“We’re just hard to beat right now,’’ said defenseman Marc Staal, who had an assist on Jimmy Vesey’s goal that tied the score at 1 in the second period. “We’re in every game; we give teams a hard night. And that’s all you can ask. We’ve been getting some results in the win column and it’s obviously a lot of fun to win some games.’’
Playing without Mats Zuccarello (groin strain) for the second straight game — and fifth time in the last six games — the Rangers spent much of the first period killing penalties and hemmed in their own end.
Dallas took the lead on a power-play goal by Tyler Seguin at 2:17 of the second period, but the Rangers killed the next Dallas power play and got a power play of their own. They didn’t convert that, but seconds after it was over, Vesey scored on a crazy back-to-the-goal backhand shot as he was falling that somehow got past goaltender Ben Bishop at 9:38.
Bishop, who started both ends of a back-to-back after making 37 saves Sunday in a 6-2 win over the Islanders in Brooklyn, left the game after two periods with a lower-body injury. Khudobin came on to relieve him at the start of the third period.
Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
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