So the question you have to ask is this, were the New York Rangers that good, or were the Tampa Bay Lightning that bad?
On Tuesday night, in a game most Rangers fans would have placed in the loss column weeks ago, New York pinned a 4-1 loss on the Lightning.
Filip Chytil, in his first game with the Rangers this season, scored the game-winner off a beauty of a tip in from the slot.
“I just needed to find my game,” said Chytil, who had nine points (three goals, six assists) with Hartford. “Finally, I’m here and I can play here.”
Alexandar Georgiev made 29 saves for the win.
“A whole different Fil [Chytil],” Rangers coach David Quinn said. “We saw flashes of it last year, but the guy turned 20 this past September. His battle level was so much higher. He was on the right side of the play. There wasn’t much cheating in his game, if at all. … I thought probably he had his best NHL game.”
Nikita Kucherov scored the lone goal for the Lightning.
“I’m not upset with our game,” Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said. “It was just tough the way it unfolded a little bit tonight. We have better in us, but we were battling. We lost a few battles we normally win in the ‘D’ zone. Maybe we weren’t as aggressive as we’ve normally been, but the guys gamed it out. It’s just we were short.”
Kaapo Kakko scored his first goal on the power play for the Rangers and Adam Fox scored his first NHL goal.
“That’s always nice when you score a goal here in this arena,” Chytil said. “I was excited before the game that I’m back here, that I get to play in front of this crowd, in front of the people from New York. It’s nice to be back, nice to be back with a win and we have to keep going.”
Ryan Strome added a late empty net goal.
“We embraced the battle instead of avoiding it,” Quinn said. “Once that happens you start rolling, you’ve got a chance. I thought we did it for 60 minutes.”
[WATCH: All Lightning vs. Rangers highlights]
Andrei Vasilevskiy made 38 saves in the loss.
“Our group is lacking some confidence,” Ryan McDonagh said after the loss.”You only get that by winning games and making the plays out there, feeling comfortable. We have to start with little things, take the little positives we can. … We’ve got to find a way to get some confidence within our structure. I think we’re being a little tentative at times.”
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