With his increased role at the Rangers' practice today, it looks as if Filip Chytil will be in the lineup for Game 5.
By the look of things at the New York Rangers' practice on Thursday, Filip Chytil should be back in the lineup for Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Final against the Florida Panthers.
Chytil played the first three games of the series, before being a healthy scratch on Tuesday night due to precautionary reasons.
The 24-year-old forward suffered a concussion in November and missed the entirety of the regular season, so the Rangers are just being careful with him and making sure they don’t overdue his workload after months of not playing.
“This is just part of Fil’s coming back after such a long layoff and what we feel is best for him to continue to move forward with us,” Rangers coachPeter Laviolette said following Game 4. “You're asking a lot for a guy that missed six months to come back in and get up to that speed. This is part of the plan for him.”
During Wednesday’s practice though, Filip Chytil practiced on the second power play unit according to NHL.com’s Dan Rosen, indicating he will most likely be in the lineup.
Vince Z. Mercogliano of USA Today reported that Chytil practiced on the team’s first line with Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad. This means that Chytil will not only be playing, but is set to serve a major role during tonight’s matchup.
Through his four playoff games this season, Chytil has failed to record a point while he averages 13:54 minutes of ice time.