Shocking statement from Filip Chytil following surprise return in Game 3

The New York Rangers got an added boost up front from Game 3 of the second series against the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday when forward Filip Chytil made a surprise return after missing more than six months of action. Chytil played for the first time since November and more than three months after he was ruled out for the season due to a head injury.
The poor guy played just 10 regular-season games before he started dealing with scary concussion-like symptoms. He even travelled back home to Czechia to get added rehabilitation and skated with Jaromir Jagr in attempt to return to the Rangers. When he did for morning practice in January, he unfortunately took a major step back when the club the team announced he would miss the rest of the season two days later.

When Chytil jumped on the ice last night and when driven into the boards by Hurricanes’ Jordan Martinook, everyone held their breaths. But Chytil kept playing and looked great. And added this after the Rangers’ 3-2 overtime win to get a commanding 3-0 lead in the series:

“It felt so good,” he said. “I’ve never felt better when somebody hit me.”

He even added: “I even got a stick to the face once, and I was, ‘Yeah, get me more. I was so happy. It gave me the adrenaline, what I missed in the last six months. Even this, when it’s painful, it was feeling good.”

When he returned to Czechia for the second recovery stint, Chytil felt he could return. And he did everything he could to make that happen.

“In one moment I just realized I wanted to be back, and I did everything for that, and we’re here today.”

Chytil ended up seeing 12:02 of ice time and skating 17 shifts in the victory and even got a solid scoring chance, driving to the net at the end of the Rangers power play midway through the final period.

Prior to Game 3, Chytil had a good talk with head coach Peter Laviolette, who told him he was in the lineup that night, taking Matt Rempe’s spot. Chytil wanted to make sure he could help his teammates in their perfect postseason record.

“I was just nervous in the first moment because six months and a couple weeks, it’s a long time,” he said. “But right away, the feeling was nervous but excited to go in the game. I came here with a smile on my face before the game, and everything just clicked.”

His teammates were more than happy to have him back on board.

“Obviously, kind of a long, frustrating road for him,” forward Chris Kreider said. “So it’s been amazing having him around and then to have him come in, buzzing around out there and having a positive impact. Yeah, it’s awesome.”

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