Filip Chytil, Chris Kreider out again for Rangers against Golden Knights

The New York Rangers will again be without center Filip Chytil and left wing Chris Kreider when they face the league-leading Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena in the first of a three-game road trip.
Chytil and Kreider were among the last players on the ice at the morning skate, indicating that they won’t be dressing. Defenseman Zac Jones, who’s spent the last couple of weeks as the Rangers’ seventh defenseman, was with them and also isn’t expected to play. Coach Peter Laviolette said center Bo Groulx, who was recalled from Hartford of the American Hockey League on Friday when rookie forward Brett Berard was sent back to the Wolf Pack, will not dress for the Rangers, who are 3-1-1 in their first five games of 2025 after going 4-15-0 in their last 19 games of 2024.
“With (Chytil) not being available tonight, just to have another center on the road trip,” coach Peter Laviolette said when asked why Groulx was called up. “Just to make sure that we’re covered while we’re on the West Coast and (we) wanted to make sure we had depth at center.”
It also looks like forward Matt Rempe will be in the lineup for the second straight game after sitting out an eight-game suspension for an elbow to the head of Dallas Stars defenseman Miro Heiskanen on Dec. 20. Rempe had four hits in 7:47 of ice time against New Jersey, but he was nailed to the bench for the final 9:36 of regulation and all 2:48 of overtime.

Igor Shesterkin, who returned Thursday and made 21 saves in a 3-2 overtime win against New Jersey on Thursday after missing four games with an upper-body injury, was the first goalie off the ice and will start. He’s 1-2-0 in three career games against Vegas, with a 3.13 goals-against average and .871 save percentage.
The Rangers are 4-6-2 all-time against the Golden Knights since Vegas entered the NHL for the 2017-18 season; they were swept in two games last season, losing 5-1 in Vegas on Jan. 18, 2024, and 5-2 at Madison Square Garden eight days later. The Rangers are 2-4-0 all-time at T-Mobile Arena.
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Chytil, Kreider at morning skate but won’t play vs. Vegas

It was a good sign that Chytil was on the ice in Vegas, as he was for the morning skate Madison Square Garden on Thursday, two days after he left the Rangers’ 5-4 overtime loss to the Dallas Stars at MSG with what the team has called an upper-body injury. That’s always a warning sign for a player who has a history of concussions; he sat out seven games with one earlier in the season and all but 10 games last season because of one.
Chytil will miss his ninth game of the season. He has 10 goals and 17 points in 33 games, including four goals and an assist in his past five games.
Kreider, who was placed on injured reserve retroactive to Jan. 5 on Tuesday , will miss his fourth consecutive game with an upper-body injury. He has 13 goals and 15 points this season, but has struggled for most of the past 10 weeks. He missed three games in late November due to back spasms and was a healthy scratch for New York’s 5-0 road loss to the New Jersey Devils on Dec. 23.
His average time on ice has dropped to 17:37, down by more than a minute from last season, and after scoring at least 36 goals in each of the past three seasons, he’s on pace to finish with fewer than 30. His plus-minus has also dropped – from plus-19 in 2023-24 to minus-8 this season.
Jimmy Vesey will return to the lineup against the Golden Knights after being a healthy scratch for the overtime win against New Jersey on Thursday. It’s been a tough season for the 31-year-old forward; he missed the first 10 games of the season with a lower-body injury sustained in training camp and has just four points (three goals, one assist) in 25 games while averaging 9:54 of ice time – down 2:29 per game from last season.
Vesey will replace Berard, who had seven points (three goals, four assists) in 19 games with New York and impressed with his speed and hustle.
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