That goose egg under the goal column next to Filip Chytil’s name isn’t what you want or what he or the Rangers need. But the 19-year-old’s dynamic third period in which he was on the puck shift in and shift out provided more than just a flicker of encouragement in Sunday’s largely discouraging 4-1 Garden defeat to the Flames.
Because while this was one of those nights that reminded folks the future is not quite now for the Blueshirts, Chytil’s play over the final 20 minutes indicated the future is probably well worth waiting for when it comes to 2017’s No. 21-overall entry draft selection.
“I thought he played well,” coach David Quinn said after a game in which his team’s deficiencies were exposed by a deeper, more talented and, yes, more tenacious squad. “Not only for his sake, but for our sake, I think once he gets one, all of a sudden the puck is popping in for him.
“He’s a guy who’s been productive offensively his whole career and he’ll be productive at this level, too.”
Chytil was wheeling through open ice in creating a handful of chances off the rush. He was tough to knock off the puck, shifty and strong. He finished with four shots on a game-high nine attempts. He missed just wide on a two-on-one early in the period and had a yawning net for a split second late in the period off a rebound into the slot only to be beaten by David Rittich’s pad save.
“It’s important for me to be on the puck; that’s my game,” No. 72, who played left side on the unit with Kevin Hayes in the middle and Mats Zuccarello on the right, told The Post. “I can create chances for myself and for my teammates.
“We had a lot of shots tonight, but only the one goal. So even if I feel OK about having the puck more and getting chances, it’s not OK not to score. If I could have gotten one, maybe we change the game and win.”
There were too many individual breakdowns in the defensive zone, and in the middle of the ice, no less, through the first 40 minutes. The Marc Staal-Kevin Shattenkirk pair had a mighty tough time of it. Brady Skjei was made to look silly by Johnny Gaudreau on the 3-0 goal in the second period, though No. 76 wasn’t the first and won’t be the last to suffer that fate. Indeed, Adam McQuaid couldn’t handle Johnny 13’s spin move in the first period on which he converted for a 1-0 lead.
But coming off their weakest period since the third-period implosion in Carolina on Oct. 7, the Rangers stiffened. They showed resolve, driving to the net, pounding 20 shots on net but could only score on Mika Zibanejad’s left circle power-play drive. Otherwise, the work went for naught.
And, more to the point (or two) the Rangers did not get, the third-period bounce-back did not fool anyone into being overly accepting of the defeat that dropped the team to 2-5-1.
“From my experience, when you are down 3-0 after the second period, the other side is going to be more conservative, so you can have a period where you have the puck a lot and are on the attack,” Zibanejad said. “We were more hungry hunting down the puck in the third period, but we should have been that way the whole game. That was a problem.”
But it is also a problem the Rangers don’t appear to be blessed with natural-born finishers. Part of it is a stick-handle-and-pass-first mindset that permeates the lineup, but part of it is a lack of elite skill. That’s what Chytil, one of the youngest players in the NHL, seems to possess.
But it will take time for him to grow into whatever he is going to become. The organization can wait because the organization has no other choice but that doesn’t mean the current group can take solace in the third-period try.
“We’re good enough to win games; we are,” Henrik Lundqvist told The Post. “It’s one big play. One goal. One save. Other people might want to let us off the hook because of the rebuild or the third period or whatever, but we are not allowing ourselves off the hook. We’re here to win.”
The objective will become more realistic if Chytil can use his skill to sprinkle in a few goals here and there.
“I can build off this,” he said. “This is good for my confidence.”
It will be even better when he scores.
“He needs one to go in,” said Quinn. “We all need one to go in.”
Source: Read Full Article