Gerard Gallant reunites 'Kid Line' of Filip Chytil, Kaapo Kakko and Alexis Lafreniere
Rangers left wing Alexis Lafrenière looks on against the Red Wings in the third period of an NHL game at Madison Square Garden on Sunday. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
GREENBURGH, N.Y. — It is not a case of fixing something that is not broken.
Rather, an opportunity presented itself to examine if an entity which worked well in last year's playoffs can again provide a spark to a team mired in a three-game skid.
Gerard Gallant reunited the Rangers’ Kid Line of Alexis Lafreniere, Filip Chytil and Kaapo Kakko during Wednesday’s practice at the MSG Training Center before leaving for a trip to Detroit and Nashville.
“The kids played really well together last year,” Gallant said. “So we’ll give it another chance.”
It couldn’t hurt.
The triumvirate skated together as a line in 17 of the Blueshirts’ 20 playoff games last spring, and according to data culled by the analytics site MoneyPuck.com, recorded 10 goals, 142 total shot attempts, and 115 unblocked shot attempts against five goals allowed, 101 unblocked shot attempts against, and 121 total shot attempts against.
It was expected that the trio would stay intact this season, but injuries and lineup permutations had forced Gallant to put those plans on hold. Chytil missed six games with an upper-body injury after appearing to be elbowed in the head by Columbus’ Cole Sillinger on Oct. 23.
Chytil returned to the lineup for Sunday’s 3-2 overtime loss to the Red Wings in the regular season series opener for the Original Six rivals, and the squads will meet for the rematch Thursday at Little Caesars Arena.
“Play a solid road game,” was Braden Schneider’s assessment of what the Rangers need to do in order to snap their three-game slide. “Playing fast, playing hard, playing simple, and playing our game.”
Chytil was not the lone skilled forward who was sidelined due to injury. Vitali Kravtsov has only played in five of the Rangers’ 14 games this season. He was injured in the season-opening win against Tampa Bay after Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman rode him into the boards, and he later sustained undisclosed upper-body injuries against Colorado and Dallas.
Without the second line right wing, Gallant had to reconfigure his top two lines. Kakko saw time on the top line with Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider this season, while Lafreniere skated with Vincent Trocheck and Artemi Panarin.
But with an almost full roster at the practice session – Jacob Trouba had a maintenance day – Gallant and his coaching staff had Jimmy Vesey join Zibanejad and Kreider on the top line; Kravtsov was reunited with Panarin and Trocheck; the reformed Kid Line with Ryan Reaves rotating in; and a fourth line of Sammy Blais, Barclay Goodrow, and Ryan Carpenter.
“Sat down in the coaches’ room with the coaches and we liked what we (put together),” Gallant said. “Gives us a little more depth on each line.”
So it appears as if the Rangers will be at full strength up front. And their defense corps could be bolstered by the return of Ryan Lindgren, who was a participant at practice after missing the losses to the Red Wings Sunday and the Islanders Tuesday night with an upper-body injury sustained in the 5-2 loss to the Bruins last Thursday.
