SUNRISE, Fla. — The Rangers’ loss to the Panthers in the Eastern Conference finals wasn’t down to a few inconsequential personnel decisions, but they certainly played a factor in their late playoff run.
When head coach Peter Laviolette opted to insert Filip Chytil into the lineup for Game 3 of the Blueshirts’ second-round series against the Hurricanes, the Rangers head coach justified the move, which came when the team was 6-0 in the postseason, as a way to get the most out of his bench.
The win shocked the Rangers, giving them a double-overtime victory and their seventh playoff win, but it also presented another challenge for Laviolette.
Coach Laviolette used a different lineup for the 10th straight game as the Blueshirts lost 2-1 to the Panthers in Game 6 on Saturday night at Amerante Bank Arena. The decision to replace Matt Rempe with Johnny Brodzinski had little to do with the Blueshirts not scoring until 18:20 of the third period.
However, his mixing up of lines in that way turned out to be an understandable last-ditch effort that deviated from Laviolette’s style all season long.
Coach Laviolette moved Alex Wennberg up to the right wing on the top line with Chris Kreider and Mika Zivagined and moved Chytil back to the center of the third line between Barclay Goodrow and Kaapo Kakko.
The two lines of Artemi Panarin, Vincent Trocheck and Alexis Lafreniere remained the same as they have for all but 10 games this season, while the fourth unit featured Brodzinski, Will Caille and Jack Roslovic.
That was a factor to consider for a team that had continuity in both line combinations and defensive pairings for much of the 2023-24 season.
Chytil made a spectacular comeback after more than six months out with a suspected concussion, but something happened inside that affected other players and he became sick, unable to return to the ice for Game 4 against Carolina two days later, and then was too sore to play in Game 5.
Brodzinski intervened.
Next up is Rempe.
Then there’s Brodzinski again.
Chytil played every game in games one, two and three of the conference finals, but Kako sat out game two for medical reasons and Sunrise lost Jimmy Vesey to an upper-body injury in game one.
The injury paves the way for Blake Wheeler to return to the lineup for the first time since suffering a gruesome lower-body injury on Feb. 15, but the absence of fourth-lineman Basie is another hurdle to overcome.
But in the second game at Florida, the Rangers took Chytil out of the lineup in the name of load management.
It quickly became clear that Rangers valued Chytil less than other players, and that’s understandable, but there’s still a balance to be struck when trying to put players in positions to succeed.
The Rangers were never going to go 16-0 in the playoffs, but the postseason became much tougher from the moment the changes were made.
In theory, having Chytil and Wheeler on the team was important to the Rangers’ longevity, but it also contributed to the team’s eventual decline.
