Tag: patrick kane

Improved Filip Chytil up for key role for Rangers vs. Devils

One of the key players in the Rangers-Devils playoff series figures to be Filip Chytil, who centers the Rangers’ “Kid Line,’’ scoring 22 goals and dishing out 23 assists this season.

“He’s been very good this year and has scored some big goals,’’ said Kaapo Kakko, one of Chytil’s linemates. “He’s got good speed — especially in the D-zone. Me and ‘Laf’ [Alexis Lafreniere], we try to get the puck out and try to pass to him with his good speed in the middle we’re going to get some three-on-ones.’’

Rangers coach Gerard Gallant praised Chytil for getting “bigger and stronger’’ this year.

“You can say the same thing about his two linemates — they were young kids who got more experience, they’re playing more, they’re growing up,’’ Gallant said. “They’re not kids anymore. They’ve got more games under their belt. They’re playing games, meaningful games and it goes a long way.

“Fil’ got bigger and stronger and played a heavier game and everything else followed. He manages the puck real well. When Fil’s going his best, he’s driving that middle ice with the puck and he’s making things happen, he’s pushing back defensemen. They [that line] do a real good job down low. They manage the puck as good as anyone in the NHL in my opinion.’’


Filip Chytil has played a key role on the Rangers’ Kid Line this year.
Corey Sipkin for the NY POST

Patrick Kane, one of the Rangers’ key midseason acquisitions, hasn’t been a part of the Rangers-Devils rivalry, having spent his career playing in Chicago, but is looking forward to the intensity of the series.

Though the Rangers and Devils haven’t faced each other in the postseason since 2012, they have a spirited playoff history.

“Playing in the playoffs for so long in Chicago you kind of build those rivalries in the playoffs, like when we played Vancouver or St. Louis or Detroit,’’ Kane said. “You play against them so much it becomes a rivalry. Obviously, these two teams had playoff series in the past and there is a lot of history there with the teams being so close. So, I’m sure they will be pretty exciting games and the fans will into it.’’

Kane, who’s hoisted the Stanley Cup before, was asked what it takes to do so.

“It seems like 16 wins isn’t that many, but it’s a long journey,’’ he said. “The biggest thing I’ve found in the years that we won was that we always overcame some type of adversity. There was something along the way that caused some adversity for the team and if you were able to get through it you came out better at the other end and found ways to win the series.’’

Rangers captain Jacob Trouba left practice early on Monday to tend to a personal matter and is expected by the team to play in Game 1 on Tuesday night at the Prudential Center.

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Rangers’ power play woes continue despite big-name talent

SUNRISE, Fla. — Offense took priority for the Rangers at the trade deadline, but that’s just how it seemed to happen when the opportunity arose to acquire scoring juggernauts Patrick Kane and Vladimir Tarasenko.

It prompted head coach Gerard Gallant to change course on how he handled the power-play units up until the deadline. He went from leaving it alone for months to switching it up on a weekly basis.

And yet the Rangers, with all their new talent, haven’t been able to put it all together on the one aspect of the game that is supposed to highlight a team’s offensive prowess.

The Rangers went 0-for-3 on the power play Saturday night in a 4-3 win over the Panthers at FLA Live Arena, extending their scoreless streak with the man-advantage to three straight games.

They have now gone 3-for-23 on the power play since a 3-2 overtime loss to Penguins on March 12.

Some games, the Rangers do everything but score with the man-advantage. In others, they struggle to even hold the zone.


Gerard Gallant talks with Barclay Goodrow (left) and Tyler Mott during the Rangers’ 4-3 win over the Panthers.
NHLI via Getty Images

Saturday was one of those instances, and the Rangers were only able to put up four shots on goal while on the power play.

Ryan Lindgren was sidelined for the 13th time in the last 14 games with a lingering shoulder injury.

The 25-year-old defenseman is still considered day-to-day.

Asked if he feels the Rangers should get some new players up with Lindgren out, Gallant said “we’re fine.”

“If we need them, we know where to get them,” he added.

The Rangers would have to place Lindgren on long-term injured reserve to receive the necessary cap relief to make a recall from AHL Hartford.

It appears the Rangers may be holding onto the hope that Lindgren will be ready to play sooner rather than later, which would give them reps as a full lineup before the playoffs. That time, however, also could be spent acclimating a depth defenseman ahead of the postseason.

Patrick Kane’s third-period goal was the 450th goal and the 1,233rd point of his career, which surpassed Phil Housley for second place on the NHL’s all-time list among U.S.-born players.

The Rangers will be off on Sunday before returning to the ice for practice on Monday at MSG Training Center.

They will host the Blue Jackets on Tuesday, then will venture to New Jersey, Buffalo and Washington to wrap up March and begin April.

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Rangers dominant win validates Kids ‘belong on the ice’

This is what it often looks like when a Peewee AA team from Westchester somehow winds up in the same tournament bracket as a AAA team from Massachusetts.

Carnage on Ice.

So it was at the Garden on Sunday when Rangers-Predators immediately devolved into the kind of mismatch that might have given Barry Trotz pause about accepting the invitation to replace David Poile as Nashville’s general manager as he watched from a press box suite.

The Rangers took six shots between 2:37 and 13:36 of the first period. They all went in, starting netminder Kevin Lankinen allowing four goals before long-man Juuse Saros failed to stop the first two shots he faced.

In the newspaper business, “30” symbolizes the end of a story. In the hockey business on Broadway, “6” sufficed.

“It was not in our heads to get to double digits or anything like that,” Mika Zibanejad said after the 7-0 victory that extended the club’s shutout streak to 150:51 and its winning streak to four. “It’s a tough situation, I’m not sure anyone has a really good answer on how it feels to play a game like this, but I think the focus is to maintain good habits and not get lazy.


Filip Chytil of the Rangers moves the puck down ice during the third period against the Predators on Sunday.
Robert Sabo for NY Post

“You might try something a little bit different if you want to work on something, but you want to continue to play the right way so you can bring that into the next game.”

The Predators, on their way to a playoff miss, were decimated by injury. Ryan McDonagh and Roman Josi were sidelined on the back end. Filip Forsberg and Ryan Johansen were among the missing up front. At least Trotz was able to get an up-close-and-personal look at a number of kids in the system.

In addition to the victory, which gave the Rangers an 8-2-1 record in their last 11 games, there was actually tangible reward in this one. It was not just an exercise in running it out. Indeed, to hear Filip Chytil tell it, this one was a significant one for him and linemates Alexis Lafreniere and Kaapo Kakko to reaffirm their value to this loaded lineup.

“Our top-six has top-top players, so our ice time as a line has gone down the last number of games,” No. 72 told The Post. “This game, with the score, we just rolled our lines so that gave us more time.

“That’s very huge for our confidence and our calmness with the puck.”

Chytil opened the goal-scoring parade by splitting the defense before flicking a forehand past Lankinen at 2:37, 15 seconds after the netminder would make his only save of the night against Braden Schneider. The goal not only ignited a deluge, but it was the first in 19 games for Chytil, who hadn’t scored since Feb. 8.

“I have been staying on and working after almost all the practices,” Chytil said. “This is a confidence boost.”

The Kids’ ice time has taken a hit with the addition of Vladimir Tarasenko and Patrick Kane to the top-six and the subsequent construction of the Jimmy Vesey-Barclay Goodrow-Tyler Motte fourth line that has a spot in head coach Gerard Gallant’s rotation.

But in this one, Chytil was on for 15:16, Lafreniere — who has not scored in his last six games — for 14:40 and Kakko — 0 for his last 11 — for 14:10. That included a power-play spin as a unit. The lads did not score again, but they made the most of their opportunity by impressing Gallant.


Rangers right wing Kaapo Kakko (24) skates with the puck against Nashville Predators on Sunday.
AP

“They deserved it tonight,” the head coach said. “I like to see them take it. It’s not about me giving it to them, it’s about them taking it.

“They really played [well]. It was their best game in a while.”Gallant’s words should be music to Chytil’s ears. For the 23-year-old center had said just about the same thing from a player’s perspective just a few minutes earlier. The Kids aren’t looking for a handout.

“You have to understand, of course, the kind of players we brought in. They are here to help us win the Cup,” said Chytil, who had scored 11 goals in the 13 games immediately preceding the extended drought. “But we want to show that we belong on the ice. We want to prove that we can contribute to the team.

“We want to keep working as hard as we did before when we had a little more time. We want to help the team win. We want to show we deserve to be on the ice.

“That gives us motivation to earn ice time.”

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Patrick Kane scores 1st goal as Ranger in win over Canadiens

MONTREAL — The hope was that a full lineup would provide a clearer visual of what the Rangers really look like with their newest addition, Patrick Kane, but it only revealed just how much work they still have to do as a team.

Facing a Canadiens team that is in last place in the Atlantic Division and well out of the playoff picture, the Rangers barely escaped with two points after Mika Zibanejad was the lone goal scorer in the shootout, which secured a 4-3 win Thursday night at Bell Centre.

The list of excuses has quickly dwindled for the Rangers.

Sure, they’re still without Ryan Lindgren, whose absence proves time and time again that the Rangers are not the same team without him.

And Tyler Motte is still unavailable with an apparent head injury, leaving the fourth line without one of its speediest and peskiest members.

They were also away from game action for four days, so that could’ve played into some of their lapses, too.


Mika Zibanejad scores the game-winning shootout goal to give the Rangers a 4-3 win over the Canadiens.
AP

Patrick Kane accepts congratulations after scoring his first goal as a Ranger in their 4-3 shootout win over the Canadiens.
USA TODAY Sports

Between their poor transition game, their looseness in the defensive zone and Igor Shesterkin’s lingering inability to come up with that clutch save, however, the Rangers have a number of areas to focus on for which Kane and Vladimir Tarasenko cannot act as a Band-Aid.

Shesterkin, who finished with 23 saves, did make the last big stop in the shootout, however, to help secure the victory.

Still, this matchup with the Canadiens was a competitive one.

Overlooking the fact that Montreal is without a few of its top players, the Rangers were able to answer each Habs goal with one of their own through the first two periods.

The Canadiens took a 2-1 lead into the second period, but Jacob Trouba scored 48 seconds into the middle frame after the Rangers captain was allowed to skate into the right faceoff circle uncontested and wrist the puck past Montreal’s netminder Sam Montembeault.


Alexis Lafrenierre scores a first-period goal on Sam Montembeault as Mike Matheson defends during the Rangers’ victory.
AP

Momentum should’ve swung further in the Rangers favor when Rem Pitlick was called for delay of game later in the period.

Instead, Kane mishandled the puck on the power play and sent the Habs the other way before Josh Anderson buried a shorthanded breakaway goal.

The newest Ranger, however, made up for it just over a minute later.

Sniping the puck from the top of the left faceoff circle, Kane knotted the game at three-all and subsequently let out an emphatic fist pump.


Josh Anderson scores a goal on Igor Shesterkin during the Rangers’ win.
AP

Kane had an eventful third game with the Blueshirts, recording an assist on Trouba’s 2-2 score in addition to his own goal.

He also took a slashing penalty late in the final frame that could’ve been detrimental.

The Rangers may have had a full complement of 18 skaters for the first time since Feb. 25, but it didn’t make the immediate impact on their overall play the way it was supposed to.

Even with K’Andre Miller back on defense, after the 23-year-old blueliner was suspended for three games, the Rangers defensive structure was full of holes and backdoor opportunities — as it has been the last couple weeks.

That much was evident right off the bat.

The Canadiens scored 35 seconds into the game when player after player cycled through the Rangers zone before Kaiden Guhle batted the puck past Shesterkin.

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Rangers can give new lineup true test with short break

The Rangers have two much-needed days off, Sunday and Monday, followed by two desperately needed days of practice on Tuesday and Wednesday.

After that, they will finally be in a position to be evaluated fairly when they take the ice Thursday night against the Canadiens with a full lineup for the first time since essentially the Feb. 25 loss in Washington. The outside noise from the trade deadline has come and gone. Patrick Kane technically has been on the books for six days. The Rangers can officially get back to their regularly scheduled program.

Four games of skating shorthanded — or benching players for roster-management reasons — have not been kind to the Rangers, who went 1-2-1 against the Kings, Flyers, Senators and Bruins. The fact is, however, the Rangers are simply underperforming lately.

They have lost six of their last eight games, and slipped to just a seven-point cushion on the wild-card Islanders in the Metropolitan Division standings. It hasn’t all been negative. The club is nowhere near any doom or gloom. There is still a confidence exuding from the locker room that is indicating team perseverance.


Despite underperforming, the Rangers will be in a position to be at full strength after a short hiatus.
AP Photo/Michael Dwyer

The Rangers just need to tighten up defensively, integrate the new faces into their five-on-five game and power play and start working toward unlocking the lineup’s full potential to ensure they achieve optimal seeding in the playoffs. Their recent play hasn’t necessarily been bad, especially considering the circumstances, but it’s not great, either.

“I guess that’s the fine balance that you have to find,” Mika Zibanejad said of taking positives away from the 4-2 loss to the NHL-leading Bruins Saturday afternoon in Boston. “When you look back at games and what you do with them and how you go forward and whatnot. I think we do a lot of good things. The other games that we played against [Boston], the other two games, I don’t think we came up this good against them and kind of pushed them back.


The addition of Patrick Kane only bolsters the Rangers’ potential.
Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports

“We didn’t just sit back and watch them play and [that’s not] easy to do, especially here [in Boston]. They’re good at home. Obviously, I feel like they’ve been good everywhere this year, but especially at home. They have a ton of speed, they play very fast and they’re dangerous. But I thought we at times did a really good job pushing back and not just sitting back and waiting for things to happen.

“We did a lot of good things and hopefully that’s something that we can build on and add to. No matter who we play, to play that game, I feel like that’s how we want to play and what we’ve talked about all year. Not happy with the result, try to take some of the good things that we did, obviously get better at the things that we have to.”


The Rangers haven’t been playing at their best, with a 1-2-1 record in the past four games.
AP Photo/Michael Dwyer

No team is immune to distractions, and there have been plenty around the Rangers for almost a month now. It’s also created even loftier expectations than the organization was already facing at the start of the season. That could result in a longer adjustment period than the Rangers likely desire, but it also could lead to a drop-off in the standings.

The schedule is nearing crunch time and the Rangers need to adapt accordingly with 19 games left in the regular season.

K’Andre Miller will be back Thursday from his three-game suspension and Ryan Lindgren could be nearing a return from his upper-body injury. The Rangers have no doubt missed two of their top defensemen. It is unclear what Tyler Motte’s timeline is with an apparent head injury, but the Rangers will be able to recall a forward to play at full strength going forward.

All pieces will be in place soon enough. The Rangers will have to take it from there.

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