NY RANGERS: FILIP CHYTIL WINS IT IN OVERTIME!

NY RANGERS: FILIP CHYTIL WINS IT IN OVERTIME!

By: Matthew Blittner



The Rangers win 4-3 in OT!

Kevin Shattenkrik passes to Mats Zuccarello, who holds the puck, cross-ice pass to Filip Chytil and the rookie scores his first goal for the overtime winner!

2-0! Monday night the Islanders fell at MSG, 1-0 in OT. Tonight, the Devils fell inside MSG, also in OT, by a score of 4-3.

It may be preseason but the Rangers are already showing what they're made of with back-to-back overtime victories over their rivals.

From the start of the game, there were a few things that stood out:

1) Whistles continue to be blown by the officials as over 15 penalties were called tonight. Thankfully the Rangers went 2-9 on the power-play, including Chytil's game-winning tally. To go along with their 2-9 on the power-play, they also went 6-7 on the penalty-kill.

2) Chris Kreider is already in midseason form. With a goal and assist tonight Kreider was an animal as he imposed his will on the Devils all game long.

3) Kevin Hayes was also in midseason form as he had a goal and used his size/speed combo to impose himself on the opposition all night.

4) The young kids look to be NHL ready. John Gilmour had a solid game on the blue line and his fellow farm-hand Ryan Gropp was solid upfront as he used his size to help setup some key sequences.

5) Kevin Shattenkirk and Mats Zuccarello. These two must have magical powers. Their combined wizardry when passing the puck is a sight to behold. Shatty had three assists while Zucc had two.

But the story of this game is the play of the Rangers' first-round (21st overall) pick -- Filip Chytil.

Rangers fans may want to remember this kid. He's only 18, but he's proven for a while now that age is just a number. He's impressed everybody watching him during camp, and now he's doing it in preseason games.

At 6-2, 192lbs, this native of Kromeriz in the Czech Republic has room to grow. But who says that that should stop him from making the team out of camp? Nobody, that's who.

Head coach Alain Vigneault has stated that both Chytil and fellow first-round pick Lias Andersson will be given every chance to break camp with the Rangers, and if early returns mean anything, they're making the most out of this chance.

Andersson had the primary assist on Monday night's OT game-winner, and tonight Chytil scored the OT game-winner -- with 3.5 seconds to go no less!

Both Andersson and Chytil play centre and that is a need for the Rangers. 

With two straight overtime wins to open the preseason, the Rangers are flying high, and that's due largely to the play of their rookies.

Their next test comes in the form of a date with the Islanders on Friday night, this time in Bridgeport -- home of the Islanders AHL team.

So far this team is coming up Aces.

There's still a long way to go before a champion is crowned, but the future looks bright in RangersTown!

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