Former Rangers defenseman ‘exceptional,’ scores 2 goals in Hurricanes debut
K’Andre Miller made quite the first impression in his debut with the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday. Acquired in a trade with the New York Rangers on July 1, Miller scored two goals in his first game with the Hurricanes, a 6-3 victory over the New Jersey Devils.
The 25-year-old defenseman played a game-high 31 shifts, tied for second on the Hurricanes with four shots on goal, and was credited with two hits in 19:10 TOI.
“I thought he was exceptional,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said postgame. “Take the goals away even — just impactful.”
What made his performance stand out even more is that this was Miller’s first game of any kind since mid-April with the Rangers, when he helped them defeat the Tampa Bay Lightning to close out an extremely disappointing season.
Miller had surgery in May for an undisclosed injury and didn’t play at all in the preseason with his new team. Only recently was he cleared for contact at practice.
But he jumped right in, paired with Jalen Chatfield on the blue line, and looked the part of the exceptional player the Hurricanes raved about after picking him up from the Rangers.
“Obviously, I didn’t have any preseason games, so this was kind of my real first look with the team. I think once I got adjusted and up to the speed of the game, I felt great. It was fun,” Miller said.
Miller snuck a quick shot through some traffic, off the post, and in to give Carolina a 2-1 lead at 9:23 of the second period. Then, after New Jersey’s Cody Glass tied things up, Miller scored again to make it 3-2, hammering a power-play slap shot off Devils goalie Jacob Markstrom and into the cage 10:21 into the third period. It was his the third two-goal in the NHL.
Asked if he was surprised that first one got past Markstrom, Miller laughed.
“Yeah. Totally.”
Ex-Rangers center Filip Chytil healthy again, scores twice for Canucks to begin season
Miller wasn’t the only former member of the Rangers core to score a twice in his season debut Thursday. Filip Chytil netted a pair of goals for the Vancouver Canucks in their 5-1 home win against the Calgary Flames.
The Rangers traded Chytil to the Canucks on Jan. 31 as part of the package to land J.T. Miller, who’s now their captain. Like K’Andre Miller (No. 22 overall in 2018), Chytil (No. 21 overall in 2017) was a first-round pick by the Rangers, whom general manager Chris Drury ultimately deemed expendable.
Chytil’s injury history was his biggest issue in New York. And his fresh start in Vancouver last season was ruined by yet another head injury.
But Chytil’s healthy again, and the 26-year-old center started this season in style with the seventh two-goal game of his NHL career. Chytil, who was named the game’s First Star, scored at 2:54 and 8:53 of the third period, extending Vancouver’s lead from 1-0 to 3-0.
Chytil said he’d enjoy this one “until midnight” and then get back to work with the Canucks, “plenty of things to improve on.”
Canucks coach Adam Foote was equally as measured with his postgame comments about Chytil’s performance.
“He was good. He looked fast. He didn’t look nervous. He looked like he wanted the puck on his stick and that he wanted to play hockey.”
Chris Kreider was held off the score sheet in his debut with the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday. Kreider had one shot on goal, two hits, and logged 16:49 TOI in a 3-1 loss to the Seattle Kraken.
Former Rangers defenseman Ryan Lindgren was up to his familiar tricks, blocking a game-high six shots and playing more than 21 minutes in his first game with the Kraken after signing with them as a free agent this summer.
