Gerard Gallant’s line tweaks effective in sparking Rangers’ offense

Head coach Gerard Gallant jumbled his forward lines to try to spark some offense after the Rangers were shut out in Game 2, and it paid off as the team pulled out a 3-1 win over the Hurricanes on Sunday afternoon at Madison Square Garden to cut Carolina’s second-round series lead to just one game. 

The changes broke up the Kid Line of Alexis Lafreniere, Filip Chytil and Kaapo Kakko, which had been the Rangers’ most consistent unit all postseason. 

“I was flipping back and forth, honestly, with that,” Gallant said after the win. “I just wanted to get [Andrew Copp] in the middle, you know, stronger faceoff guy in the dot. He did pretty well, but we still got a lot of trouble at the faceoff dot tonight. But that was the thinking early on, and then I wanted to get back to my lines again after that.” 

In putting Chytil on the right wing of the top line next to Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad, Frank Vatrano flanked the third unit with Kakko and Copp slotted into the middle. Lafreniere jumped up to the right wing of the second line alongside Artemi Panarin and Ryan Strome. The fourth line of Motte, Kevin Rooney and Ryan Reaves remained intact. 

The new-look top line was particularly effective despite the fact that Chytil, Kreider and Zibanejad only logged 2:06 of ice time together during the regular season, according to Natural Stat Trick. They doubled the Hurricanes shots, 10-5, in 6:55 together in the victory — and Chytil looked even more energetic than he’s already been lately with a top-six recognition. 

“I didn’t mind it,” said Chytil, who finished with four shots on goal. “Kreids and Mika are top players on our team, and it was good to adjust to play with them. I had a lot of great chances, we had as a line, we had a lot of good chances. We scored a goal, there was a penalty against and then we scored a goal on the power play. 

“I think the first two periods were great. We were playing the right way and that was a good experience for me.” 

But Gallant reverted back to the combinations the Rangers had for the previous four games at the end of the second period and throughout the third, which he said was for defensive purposes. The Kid Line was reunited, while Vatrano slotted back onto the top line next to Kreider and Zibanejad. Copp returned to the right wing of the second line with Panarin and Strome. 

Still, the Kreider-Zibanejad-Chytil alignment showed something to Gallant in the win. 

“I liked that line, to be honest with you,” he said. “There was just some of the other things that were going on that’s why I changed it back. But I thought Fil did a good job up there with that line. He controlled the puck down low, and they made some good plays and had some good chances.” 

Added Kreider of playing with Chytil on his line: “It was different. I don’t think we ever played with that line combination, necessarily. But I thought he did a great job. I mean, it was a 20-man effort tonight. A few minor tweaks early on, but guys responded positively and just worked.”