Rangers' Jonny Brodzinski steps in for injured Filip Chytil vs. Kraken

SEATTLE – It’s hard being the extra guy. When everything is going well, you don’t get to play. And when you do play, most often it’s because one of your teammates is injured, or underperforming, neither of which is a good thing.

But when a team needs the extra guy to step in, it’s comforting to have a player who understands the role, embraces it, and produces when called on.

Filip Chytil did not travel with the Rangers to Seattle for the start of their four-game swing through the Pacific Northwest and Alberta after suffering an upper-body injury following his collision with teammate K’Andre Miller Thursday against San Jose. So Jonny Brodzinski got the call Sunday to step in for him in the first game of the trip against the Kraken. Brodzinski assumed Chytil’s spot as the third-line center between wingers Will Cuylle and Kaapo Kakko.

Brodzinski, 31, played seven of the first 10 games of the season as the fourth-line right wing while forward Jimmy Vesey was on long-term injured reserve. But when Vesey returned, he was a healthy scratch for five straight games before Chytil’s injury forced him back in against Seattle.

“It's never a good way to get back in the lineup,’’ Brodzinski said after the morning skate. “Obviously, we want everybody healthy here and pushing forward as a team. But it's kind of a ‘next man up’ mentality, and it's tough for a team to stay fully healthy the entire year. So (I hope to) get in there and do exactly what I did last year and try and produce with these two.’’

Brodzinski played a significant amount with Cuylle and Kakko last season when Chytil missed the final 72 games last season with an upper-body injury. As a third line the trio wasn’t bad, essentially playing opponents even as far as shot attempts (108-105), shots on goal (55-55), and expected goals for/against (4.58/4.65) while outscoring them 7-4, according to Natural Stat Trick.

“He's played every line since I've been here,’’ second-year Rangers coach Peter Laviolette said of Brodzinski. “He's played every position – left wing, center, right wing – so (filling in for Chytil) should be somewhat seamless for him. And that line has given us good minutes in the past.’’

The thing is, though, the Cuylle-Chytil-Kakko line had been the Rangers’ most effective this season, outscoring opponents 11-0 in their 129 minutes, 37 seconds together while outshooting opponents 80-61 and outproducing their expected goals (xG) projections of 8.13 xG for and 4.8 xG against. So there certainly is pressure for Brodzinski to keep the positives going for the line and he’s aware of that. He’s just not intimidated by it.

“I feel like you could kind of put anybody with those two – those three – and they would go as a line,’’ he said. “So I’m just trying to fill whatever I can fill there. And I feel like (Cuylle and Kakko) kind of push that line, and I'm a line-driver as well.’’

Kakko believes the line, with Brodzinski in the middle, should still be able to be successful.

“We played some games together last year, so we know what to do,’’ he said. “I think (Brodzinski)'s gonna bring some speed. I mean, Fil is a good skater also, so that's kind of the same thing – some speed in the middle. Hopefully we can get the pucks in the ‘O’ zone, (and Brodzinski’s) good in faceoffs also (career 50.5%). We can get chances off the faceoff, if we have some ‘O’ zone draws over there. So, yeah, there’s a couple things (Brodzinski) can bring.’’

Blue notes

Jonathan Quick (3-0, 1.17 GAA, .964 SV %) was expected to start in net . . . Cuylle was set to assume Chytil’s spot on the second power-play unit, though D Jacob Trouba got some work at the morning skate as a second point man on the unit.

By Colin Stephenson

colin.stephenson@newsday.comColinSNewsday

Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.