RALEIGH, N.C. -- Filip Chytil said what many people were thinking after he made his return to the New York Rangers lineup for the first time in more than six months.
"This team is unbelievable without me," Chytil said late Thursday, "but with me we can be even better."
Spot on.
The team that is undefeated in the Stanley Cup Playoffs and up 3-0 on the Carolina Hurricanes in the best-of-7 Eastern Conference Second Round got an infusion of talent and depth with Chytil's return in Game 3 on Thursday.
Chytil played for the first time since Nov. 2, when he sustained an upper-body injury.
He skated 17 shifts, totaling 12:02 of ice time. He had one shot on goal, five shot attempts, nearly scored on one super-skillful, potential goal-of-the-playoffs type of move at 11:10 of the third period, and maybe most importantly had three hits and got hit a few times, too.
The Rangers won 3-2 on Artemi Panarin's goal 1:43 into overtime.
"Never felt better that somebody hit me or I hit anybody," Chytil said. "I even got the stick to the face once and I was like, 'Yeah, give me more.' I was so happy. It gave me the adrenaline that I missed in the last six months. Even this, when it's painful, it was feeling good."
The Rangers are feeling even better than they were in the first six games of the playoffs with Chytil replacing Matt Rempe in the lineup. Short of a shocking turn of events, it will stay that way when the Rangers try to advance to the Eastern Conference Final in Game 4 at PNC Arena on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; MAX, truTV, TNT, SN, TVAS, CBC).
With Chytil, the Rangers now have four lines they can roll at any given time, with Chytil replacing Will Cuylle on the third line with Alex Wennberg and Kaapo Kakko, and Cuylle replacing Rempe on the fourth line with Barclay Goodrow and Jimmy Vesey.
They didn't have that with Rempe in the lineup. In fact, Game 2 went into double overtime but Rempe didn't get a shift after the second period. He was limited to five shifts and 4:03 of ice time in a game that lasted 87 minutes. In six playoff games he averaged 6:22 of ice time per game.
But Chytil played a regular shift in Game 3, taking seven shifts in the first period, and five in each of the second and third.
"I thought he got better as the game went on," Rangers coach Peter Laviolette said. "In the second period and third period and overtime I thought we started to take the game over, and I thought that you saw him do the same thing. It was in those periods where he was grabbing the puck through the neutral zone. He was trying to attack. He was trying to beat people 1-on-1. He was looking for inside positioning in the offensive zone. He was physical. He was in on the forecheck. He was banging bodies. So as the game grew, I thought his game grew as well."
Chytil was working toward a return in late January, after coming back to New York from his home in Czechia, where he returned to in December to be with family and restart his rehab in a different environment.
But on Jan. 26, his second time back on the ice with the Rangers, wearing a no-contact jersey in an optional morning skate at Madison Square Garden, Chytil went down along the boards and needed to be helped off the ice.
Laviolette, who was watching the optional skate from the Zamboni doors, immediately darted toward the dressing room when he saw Chytil go down.
Two days later, the Rangers issued a statement saying Chytil suffered a setback in his recovery from an upper-body injury and would be out for the remainder of the season.
"We won the Presidents' Trophy and I was just watching on the TV from home and I was happy for everyone on this club, but I was feeling like something is missing," Chytil said. "When I started to feel better, I was just like I want to be with the guys, I want to be with them."
He returned to practice on April 12 in a regular jersey, medically cleared for contact, but not ready to play and with no timetable for his return.
But the Rangers knew by the way he was skating that as long as Chytil didn't have a setback he was going to return at some point, likely in the playoffs and likely in a moment that suited him and the team best.
Laviolette made the decision to put Chytil in for Rempe after the Rangers and Hurricanes played into double overtime Tuesday before Trocheck scored at 7:24 of the second OT.
He knew that with one day off between games and the Hurricanes getting control of the matchups with the last-change advantage at home the Rangers needed a deeper lineup, one that didn't require as much double-shifting as he was doing in Game 2 with Rempe stapled to the bench, especially if it was going to be another long game.
"This was a perfect opportunity for him to reenter into the lineup," Laviolette said.
Chytil was ready.
"I feel unbelievable," Chytil said. "The adrenaline is what I needed. I didn't have that in the last six months. I have to say I was not even that nervous before the game. I was just excited that I'm with the guys in the locker room and getting ready to play this game again. In this building, it's hard to play, and I was enjoying even the crowd again. I was enjoying everything. It was a great day and an unbelievable win for us.”
There will be more days like it for Chytil and the Rangers this spring.
The team that is undefeated in the playoffs just got more talented, deeper, overall better.
"It's not the Filip who is always here, ready for the season, who was playing the last time, who was ready," Chytil said. "But I'm here, I know I can help the team."
