SUNRISE, Fla. — The Rangers didn’t lose to the Panthers in the Eastern Conference Final because of a few inconsequential personnel decisions, but it certainly became a factor in the end of their playoff run.
When Peter Laviolette opted to insert Filip Chytil into the lineup for Game 3 of the Blueshirts’ second-round matchup with the Hurricanes, the Rangers head coach justified the move — which was made when his club was 6-0 in the postseason — by saying it was about maximizing his bench.
It provided the Rangers with a jolt in the moment and allowed them to pick up a double-overtime victory, their seventh straight playoff win, but it also became another thing for Laviolette to manage.
Laviolette dressed his 10th consecutive different lineup in the Blueshirts’ 2-1 loss to the Panthers in Game 6 on Saturday night at Amerant Bank Arena, where the decision to replace Matt Rempe with Jonny Brodzinski hardly played a factor in the club getting held off the scoreboard until the 18:20 mark of the third period.
Putting the lines in a blender the way he did, however, proved to be an understandable last-ditch effort that strayed from the way Laviolette conducted himself the whole season.
Bumping Alex Wennberg up to the right wing of the top line with Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad, Laviolette put Chytil back in the middle of the third line between Barclay Goodrow and Kaapo Kakko.
While the second line of Artemi Panarin, Vincent Trocheck and Alexis Lafreniere remained intact as it has for all but 10 games of the season, the fourth unit featured Brodzinski, Will Cuylle and Jack Roslovic.
For a team that largely had continuity in both the line combinations and defensive pairs for a majority of the 2023-24 campaign, it became an element to consider.
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After his triumphant return from a six-plus month recovery period with a suspected concussion, Chytil fell ill as something went through the room and affected other players as well, and wasn’t able to get back on the ice two mornings later for Game 4 against Carolina. He was later too sore to play in Game 5.
Brodzinski stepped in.
Then it was Rempe.
Then Brodzinski again.
For Games 1, 2 and 3 of the conference final, Chytil played in all, but Kakko was a healthy scratch in the second game before Jimmy Vesey suffered an upper-body injury in the first game in Sunrise.
The injury opened the door for Blake Wheeler to make his return to the lineup for the first time since suffering a gruesome lower-body injury Feb. 15, but the loss of Vesey on the fourth line became another hurdle to clear.
By the second game in Florida, however, the Rangers held Chytil out of the lineup in the name of load management.
It quickly became clear that the Rangers valued Chytil at a lesser capacity than their other options, which is understandable, but a balancing act nonetheless when you’re trying to put a player in a position to have success.
The Rangers were never going to go 16-0 in the playoffs, but the postseason got considerably harder the moment changes were made.
In theory, getting Chytil and Wheeler involved was important to the longevity of the Rangers’ run, but it also played a role in the team’s ultimate demise.