Kids Shine In Shootout Loss To Panthers

Following back to back wins on Wednesday and Thursday nights, the Rangers were hoping to record their third consecutive win against the Florida Panthers. However, it’d be the Panthers on the winning side of a 6-5 shootout decision at Madison Square Garden.

Ryan Lindgren – Much like fellow Hartford call up Filip Chytil, Lindgren has played well since joining the big club a couple weeks ago. He’s been strong in his own end, unafraid to play physically, and, today, scored his first NHL goal to give the Rangers a 1-0 lead. Lindgren was the beneficiary of a beautiful passing play, as he capped off a tic-tac-toe style goal after passes from Artemiy Panarin and Ryan Strome.

Strome and Panarin both added to their point streaks on the goal, the third and eighth games with a point, respectively.

Filip Chytil – Since being recalled from Hartford, the young Czech forward has made it clear to everyone he has no intention of heading back to the Wolf Pack any time soon. Chytil scored his fourth goal in six NHL games this season when he undressed former Rangers defenseman Anton Stralman before beating Montembeault to tie the game at two.

Chytil has been engaged on just about every shift since rejoining the Rangers. He’s used his speed and skill to create chances and win races to loose pucks. To me, he’s slowly building a case to be the team’s 2C of the future.

Brady Skjei – After being a healthy scratch on Thursday night in Carolina, #76 returned to patrol the Rangers blue line against Florida. He played a decent game and was able to score the third goal of the afternoon for the Blueshirts. Chris Kreider forced a turnover in the neutral zone, allowing Skjei to pick up the puck. Skjei carried the puck deep into the offensive zone, where he threw the puck at the net and got a lucky bounce off of the Florida defender and into the net.

Kaapo Kakko – The 18-year-old got the fourth goal of his rookie season, breaking the deadlock and giving the Rangers a 4-3 lead. With the Rangers on the man-advantage, Kakko received a hard pass from Tony DeAngelo, before turning and firing a shot behind Montembeault.

Chris Kreider – After a slow start to the season for the 28-year-old forward, Chris Kreider has scored in two of his last three games. Kreider, who likes to camp out in front of the opposing net while his team is on the power play, redirected the point shot from Adam Fox for the fifth and final goal of the game for the Blueshirts.

This season, Kreider is playing for his next contract, be it with the Rangers or another team. But if the Rangers do want to retain Kreider beyond this season, it would behoove the veteran forward to continue playing the way he has over the past few games.

Henrik Lundqvist – It certainly wasn’t a good game for the team’s all-time wins leader, who allowed five goals in a game for the first this season. There wasn’t much defense being played through the first 40 minutes of this one, with the two teams combining to score nine goals during the first two periods of play. Lundqvist had himself a solid run of games these last few days, stopping a combined 105 of 113 shots in games against Detroit, Carolina, and Florida.

Next Game: The Rangers will look to get back in the win column on Tuesday night when they host the Pittsburgh Penguins. Puck drops at 730!

LETS GO RANGERS!!