The Rangers’ defeat was caused by a dubious Peter Laviolette decision that halted Filip Chytil’s excellent game.
On the road to briefly leveling the score in the second period, Filip Chytil scored the team’s first goal, making him a standout in Monday night’s 5-3 loss to the Panthers at Amerank Bank Arena.
At 14:25, the Czech center sped up the ice, carried the puck into the offensive zone, handed it off, crashed the net, and put back a rebound to cut Florida’s lead in half, 2-1.
Chytil had a game-high seven shots on goal at the end.
He was dynamic, hard on pucks, and had a leap.
To tie the game with an empty net in the last seconds of regulation, head coach Peter Laviolette chose to use Mika Zibanejad on the ice for the six-on-four power play rather than Chytil.
When questioned if it was considered to have Chytil out there in the end given his strong game, Laviolette responded, “There’s a group that we work on things and we go over things, there’s a group that’s been together.” In other words, he performed admirably. He simply never got the chance to change for the guy he was meant to be going out with on the second unit.
Then, to seal the victory, Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov scored on the empty net.
Chytil hasn’t skated as confidently since he returned from an upper-body injury that kept him out of action for seven games at the beginning of the season. In 29 games, he has scored 13 points with seven goals and six assists.
After the game, Chytil remarked, “I felt great.” Playing the puck a lot made me feel fantastic. I had a lot of opportunities, and so did we. I focus on goals every day since they determine the outcome of the game. There might be more than one today, but I simply need to work on it.
This season, he is now 2-3 on challenges.
He stated, “Igor tries to save with his glove, but it gets pushed aside while it’s still in the blue paint.” In my opinion, it’s a save. Based on what we have learned and will continue to learn from the league, I believe it to be 100% goalkeeper interference. The goalie is interfering.
