Filip Chytil to center Rangers' top line in second game back

Filip Chytil had missed seven games (15 days) with an upper body injury that was deemed not to be a concussion. He’d been back with the team and on the ice for 10 days but hadn’t really practiced because the Rangers did not have a full practice during that time.

But with the team having lost five games in a row, including a stunningly poor effort on Black Friday in Philadelphia, coach Peter Laviolette didn’t have time to ease Chytil back into the lineup for Saturday’s game against the last-place Montreal Canadiens.

“We were in a position where we needed to win a game,’’ Laviolette explained Monday as the Rangers prepared to host the Devils at Madison Square Garden. “He was cleared. He's healthy. He's been on the ice, he's been practicing. He wasn't out for two months [and] most of the time he was out on the ice and skating. So we needed to get him and put him in that position. And… he took down the minutes.’’

The 16 minutes and 22 seconds Chytil played against Montreal were the second-most he’s played all season. And going into Monday night's game against the Devils, it is likely he would eclipse that number, given the fact he is playing in the role of No. 1 center, aligned between wingers Artemi Panarin and Alexis Lafreniere.

And major ice time would be fine with him, Chytil said.

"It's always nice when you can be there as much as you can," Chytil said. "I'm focusing, always, on the shift… in that moment. But sometimes [when playing on a third line] there is a big gap between the shifts, and it's harder to stay focused on that. But yeah, when you have consistent shifts, and you're out there more, it's always better… because you can have the puck more [and] you can have more chances. You can create, and that's important."

Panarin and Lafreniere were Chytil’s wingers at the start of last season, when Laviolette was in his first year as the Rangers' coach and had promised to give the young forwards on the roster expanded roles as they entered their hockey primes. And the Panarin-Chytil-Lafreniere line was off to a fine start — Lafreniere scored the team’s first goal of the season on opening night in Buffalo — and Chytil was playing well, with six assists in the first 10 games.

“They were good,’’ Laviolette said of the line last season. “[Chytil] has a lot of speed. He's got a high skill level. He sees the ice well. You can even notice that just coming off the game [against Montreal] where he hadn't played in a few games. His attack on the puck and on the ice was really evident. To me that helps push defenses back and create space for his linemates."

But the line only got 10 games together before Chytil bumped into Carolina forward Jesper Fast. He would miss the final 72 games of the regular season and most of the playoffs as Vincent Trocheck stepped into his spot at center for one of the best lines in the NHL.

Chytil returned, fully healthy this season, and was back in a familiar spot for him, the third line. And his line, with second-year forward Will Cuylle and Kaapo Kakko on his wings, was the Rangers’ most dynamic and efficient. The Rangers outscored opponents 11-0 when they were on the ice before Chytil collided with teammate K’Andre Miller on Nov. 14 against San Jose and was forced out of the lineup.

With Laviolette trying to find the right formula to get his team to pull itself out of this funk — that has seen it lose nine of the last 17 games — the coach has made some substantive changes to his forward lines. Besides Chytil being promoted to the top line, Cuylle and Kakko, who combined to score the winning power play goal against Montreal, are set to flank Trocheck against the Devils on the second line, while the line of Chris Kreider, Mika Zibanejad and Reilly Smith, the first line for all but two of the first 19 games, are slotted Monday as a third line.

Blue notes

Igor Shesterkin gets the start in goal… Rookie forward Brett Berard, who had played four straight games since his Nov. 24 callup from AHL Hartford, will sit out with an upper-body injury. The team says he is day-to-day… Forward Jonny Brodzinski enters the lineup and Jimmy Vesey is scratched… D Chad Ruhwedel is the other scratch.

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.