Rangers will be without Filip Chytil for weekend series

GREENBURGH, N.Y. — Filip Chytil was on the ice to begin practice Friday morning but was not around when it ended.

The Rangers will be without their third-line center for their two-game weekend road trip to Texas and Arizona.

Chytil did not travel with the team for the back-to-back against the Stars and Coyotes, coach Gerard Gallant said, because he “didn’t feel great at the end” of practice at the MSG Training Center.

He left the ice before the practice concluded and was not in the dressing room during the media availability period.

Before the session, the team said in a statement that Chytil had “progressed better than expected” and “is a full go [Friday] and possible for this weekend.”

Chytil suffered an upper-body injury against Columbus on Oct. 23. He skated only two first-period shifts totaling 11 seconds in the 5-1 loss. During his second shift, Chytil appeared to be elbowed in the head by Columbus center Cole Sillinger.

Without Chytil, Gallant shifted Barclay Goodrow into the third-line center role between Jimmy Vesey and Vitali Kravtsov.

Kravtsov suffered an upper-body injury against the Avalanche on Tuesday, which prompted the call-up of Julien Gauthier on Wednesday afternoon. Gauthier was credited with two shots on goal in 10 minutes, 44 seconds of ice time in a 3-0 loss to the host Islanders that night.

Kravtsov and Gauthier practiced Friday. Gallant said Kravtsov would make the trip and praised Gauthier’s play against the Islanders.

“Overall he played well,” Gallant said. “Speed, played fast. He had a good game and we’re happy with him.”

Even though the Rangers (3-3-2) have scored only five goals in their last four games (0-2-2), they have positive feelings about how they are playing.

After Wednesday’s defeat, Jacob Trouba and Mika Zibanejad stressed their belief that the Rangers had played well in that game, as well as the 3-2 shootout loss to defending Stanley Cup champion Colorado the previous night.

There is merit to their argument.

The Rangers outshot the Avalanche 46-44 and had a 73-65 advantage in shot attempts. They totaled 41 shots on goal on 72 attempts against the Islanders, who had 29 shots on 54 attempts.

Those are positives.

So, too, are these: With 10% of their season completed, the Rangers rank fifth in the NHL in Corsi for percentage (.5424), Fenwick for percentage (.5623) and shots for percentage (.5515), according to the data-culling website Natural Stat Trick.

Essentially, those data points reveal that the Rangers are outshooting and out-attempting their opponents and have had slightly better scoring chances.

“We’ve been playing some good hockey,” second-line center Vincent Trocheck said. “It’s a few mental lapses that we’re making that’s causing goals in the back of our net .  .  . But I do like the way we’re playing, for the most part. If we can just continue to play our game, continue to create chances, they’re going to start falling.”