NEW YORK — The Rangers were pretty bummed out when they failed to protect a one-goal lead in the third period of their game against Toronto Wednesday night.
Friday night, they corrected that mistake, not only protecting the one-goal lead they carried into the third against Vegas at Madison Square Garden, but adding an insurance goal by the red-hot Filip Chytil to close out a 4-1 victory over the Golden Knights in their final game before the All-Star break.
Chytil scored his fourth goal in the last three games at 14:20 of the third period and goaltender Jaroslav Halak, a surprise starter in place of Igor Shesterkin, turned in perhaps his finest performance of the season, making 33 saves to even his record at 6-6-1. It was the fifth straight victory for Halak, who started the season 0-5-1.
The Rangers closed out their pre-All Star Game schedule 27-14-8, and they are 15-4-3 in their last 22 games. They are off for the next eight days, before returning to practice Feb. 5.
Chris Kreider, playing in his 700th game, scored his 20th goal of the season to give the Rangers a 1-0 lead when Vincent Trocheck’s backhand shot bounced in off his leg at 16:08 of the first period. Trocheck made it 2-0 when he swept in a pass from behind the net by Barclay Goodrow for his 14th goal of the season with 43 seconds left in the period.
The Kreider-Trocheck-Goodrow line got put together in the Rangers’ game Wednesday in Toronto, when coach Gerard Gallant swapped Kreider in on that line for Jimmy Vesey, in an effort to get Kreider off the same line with Artemi Panarin and back on left wing.
But Trocheck said the line works for him because the three players play a similar, straight-line style.
“I played with Goody the last few games,’’ he said. “I like playing with Goody. He's good, solid defensively, [and) we kind of know where each other are at, and have some pretty good chemistry. So that's been going well. And obviously I played with Kreids for a few games this year, like eight to 10. You know what you're getting out of Kreids. He's a north-south Player, he's fast. So it's gonna be easier for me, and easy for me and Goody to know where he's going to be at.’’
The Golden Knights halved the lead with the only goal of the second period, and there was at least some controversy, as the Rangers thought Vegas forward William Carrier should have been called for a tripping penalty against Alexis Lafrenière. Carrier appeared to clip Lafrenière’s skate with his stick and Lafrenière went down on his back on the edge of the right wing circle.
But there was no call, and Carrier got the puck to Phil Kessel in the right corner, and Kessel’s shot from along the goal line somehow snuck in between Halak and the goalpost at 4:57 to make it 2-1.
But the Kid Line of Chytil, Lafreniere and Kaapo Kakko, was once again stellar for the Rangers, and as the Rangers fought to protect the lead in the third, Chytil drove the net and, as he was fading off the left goalpost, spun and released a backhand shot that deflected in off the skate of a Vegas defender for Chytil’s 16th goal of the season. That relieved the pressure on the Rangers, and when Vesey scored into an empty net from his own defensive right circle, the task was complete.
