This just in, New York Rangers forward Filip Chytil is expected to suit up tonight in place of veteran Blake Wheeler for Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Final against the Florida Panthers.
Dan Rosen of NHL.com is reporting that Chytil will draw back into the lineup after speaking with him after his team's game day skate at Madison Square Garden this morning.
"It was a long break for me since I played before and the last three games were very intense, very hard," Chytil said after the morning skate Thursday. "Between the second and third game we didn't have much rest. Coach or we together communicated and decided it's going to be better for the last game to put somebody else there."
"I didn't decide it, it's not my decision, but of course I didn't play for so long so I wouldn't have helped the team (in Game 4)," Chytil said. "If I would have jumped in there [I] wouldn't be ready at all or without energy. Every game matters in the (Stanley Cup Playoffs). We've got to win every game, so that was the decision."
"It's got to do with the schedule, it's got to do with how he's feeling, it's got to do with how he's playing," Coach Peter Laviolette said this morning. "It's just different. He had a real extended amount of time off and it was an uphill journey to get back to this point where he's now available to our team for games, so we want to make sure we manage it properly."
Chytil said he felt "ready to go" Thursday and is likely to draw into the lineup.
"It's different from jumping in after a couple of weeks in the regular season and get back and play," Chytil said. "This was such a long break, which was actually longer than I expected, and that I can play right now it's amazing, but we're playing almost every other day and I'm trying to give my best every night. If there is something that would not help the team I'm not going to play. We have a lot of good players on this team who can play."
Chytil will tasked with trying to get the Rangers' top line with Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider going, all three players have 0 points in the series so far.
