Rangers sign Filip Chytil to 4-year extension

Associated PressMar 30, 2023, 7:53 PM EDT

Eric Hartline/USA TODAY Sports

NEW YORK — The New York Rangers have signed forward Filip Chytil to a four-year contract extension worth $17.75 million, locking up another member of their core long term.

The team announced the deal Wednesday night. Chytil will count just under $4.44 million annually against the salary cap through the 2026-27 season.

Chytil, 23, is in the midst of a career year. He has set career highs with 22 goals, 20 assists and 42 points in 66 games for the playoff-bound Rangers.

The Czech native is the team’s sixth-leading scorer and ranks fourth on the roster in goals. The 2017 first-round pick has 144 points in 342 NHL regular-season and playoff games. He was set to be a restricted free agent with arbitration rights this summer.

New York already had top center Mika Zibanejad signed through 2030, No. 1 defenseman Adam Fox through 2029, veteran Chris Kreider through 2027, winger Artemi Panarin through 2026 and reigning Vezina Trophy-winning goaltender Igor Shesterkin through 2025.

General manager Chris Drury’s next order of business is an extension for 2020 top pick Alexis Lafrenière, who is only signed through the remainder of this season and can be a restricted free agent.

Teravainen scores late, Hurricanes rally to beat Rangers 3-2

Associated PressMar 21, 2023, 11:34 PM EDT

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NEW YORK – Teuvo Teravainen scored the tiebreaking goal late in the third period, Frederik Andersen stopped 29 shots and the Carolina Hurricanes rallied to beat the New York Rangers 3-2.

Jalen Chatfield and Stefan Noesen also scored for the Metropolitan Division-leading Hurricanes, who won for the third time in four games.

With the comeback win, the Hurricanes became the second team – following Boston – to reach the 100-point mark this season as Carolina increased its Metropolitan Division-lead over second-place New Jersey to two points and the third-place Rangers to eight.

“That was a great effort. All 20 guys contributed and we got what we deserved,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “If we play like that, we’ll be in good shape. This time of year it gets tougher and tougher.”

Tyler Motte and Kaapo Kakko scored for the Rangers, who had won four straight were 6-0-1 in their last seven. Igor Shesterkin finished with 36 saves as the Rangers played their third game in four nights – the previous two shutout wins at home.

“Igor kept us in there as long as he could and we just didn’t have enough in the tank,” Rangers captain Jacob Trouba said. ”They won more battles and played a hard game.”

Teravainen scored his 11th goal with 2:33 left on a pass from defenseman Brent Burns, redirecting the puck past Shesterkin. The Hurricanes, who trailed 1-0 and 2-1.

“Somehow they left me open in the back side, great pass by him,” Teravainen said of the winning-goal pass to him in the slot. “We knew this would be a tough night. They have a good team. We knew we had to battle to win this game.”

The Rangers led 1-0 entering the third and were vying for their third-straight shutout before Chatfield tied the score at 9:49 – the first goal the Rangers allowed in more than eight periods. New York was coming off a 6-0 win over Pittsburgh on Saturday night with Shesterkin in goal and a 7-0 triumph over Nashville behind Jaroslav Halak on Sunday.

Kakko then put New York back ahead 31 seconds later with his 13th goal, only to have Noesen answer right back 18 seconds later to tie it 2-2.

Motte opened the scoring at the 17-minute mark of the first, knocking the puck past Andersen for his third goal in four games and sixth of the season overall.

The Rangers hadn’t lost in regulation since a 4-2 defeat on March 4 at Boston.

“Tonight we didn’t play near well enough to beat that team,” Rangers coach Gerard Gallant said. ”Honestly, the whole game they outplayed us. They were a lot quicker. They managed the puck real well … We didn’t play our game.”

MILESTONE

Hurricanes captain Jordan Staal played his 729th game with Carolina on Tuesday, tying defenseman Glen Wesley for the second-most games played in franchise history since relocation from Hartford in 1997. Staal, 34, trails only his brother Eric, who played 909 games for the Hurricanes from 2003-16.

UP NEXT

Hurricanes: Host the Rangers on Thursday night to finish the home-and-home set in the opener of a four-game homestand.

Rangers: At Carolina on Thursday night to open a two-game trip.

Panarin, Shesterkin lead Rangers to 6-0 rout of Penguins

Associated PressMar 19, 2023, 1:18 AM EDT

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NEW YORK — Mika Zibanejad had a goal and two assists, Artemi Panarin scored twice and Igor Shesterkin made 33 saves as the New York Rangers routed Pittsburgh 6-0 on Saturday night for their second win over the Penguins in three days.

Vladimir Tarasenko, Chris Kreider and Jacob Trouba also scored for the surging Rangers, who have won nine of their last 11 home games and are 12-4-0 in their past 16 at Madison Square Garden.

Shesterkin won his fifth straight and posted his second shutout this season. He nimbly denied Pittsburgh forward Mikael Granland with a sprawling save five minutes into the third period to preserve the shutout, the 10th of his career. His other one this season was a 1-0 home win over Philadelphia on Nov. 1.

“When you put in hard and honest work, miracles happen,” Shesterkin said through a translator. ”We played wonderfully today – scored many, many goals. Honestly, I hope the fans loved it. We’re playing for them.”

The Penguins lost their third straight and trail the Rangers by 12 points for third place in the Metropolitan Division. Pittsburgh, still in wild-card position, is trying to reach the playoffs for the 17th straight time.

“Tonight was a humbling experience for all of us,” coach Mike Sullivan said. ”At this time of year, you have to have a short memory. We still have control of our destiny.”

Patrick Kane and defenseman K’Andre Miller also had two assists apiece as New York improved to 7-1-1 in its last nine home games against Pittsburgh. The Rangers are five points behind the second-place New Jersey Devils, who lost at Florida on Saturday.

“This was a big game for our goalie and our team,” Panarin said. “If you work at playing the right way, you have opportunities for goals.”

Since Dec. 5, when they turned around their season with a 6-4 comeback win at home over St. Louis, the Rangers are 29-9-5.

As he did on Thursday when the Rangers beat the Penguins 4-2, Zibanejad opened the scoring. He got his team-leading 36th goal at 5:10 of the first, beating Penguins goaltender Tristan Jarry. Trouba and Miller assisted.

Panarin made it 2-0 at 19:49 on the power play, whipping the puck past Jarry from the left circle off a pass from Adam Fox.

Tarasenko increased the lead at 3:54 of the second with his fifth goal since joining the Rangers in a trade with St. Louis on Feb. 9. Tarasenko has points in 10 of his first 18 games with the Rangers.

Kreider made it 4-0 at 6:43 with his 31st goal and third in two games against the Penguins. Kane and Vincent Trocheck assisted on Kreider’s 260th career goal, which moved the Rangers forward within two of Vic Hadfield for fifth place on the franchise list.

New York won Thursday when Kreider scored the go-ahead goal in the third and added an empty-netter.

After Casey DeSmith replaced Jarry in net following Kreider’s goal, Trouba beat the replacement with a sharp-angle shot at 8:39 for his eighth to increase the margin to 5-0. Trouba has points in six of his last eight games.

Panarin scored again at 16:38 of the second – his 22nd goal of the season – to make it 6-0, with assists to Kane and Filip Chytil.

“We’re building chemistry, building every day and every game,” Kane said.

Panarin has points in eight of his last 10 games and leads the Rangers with 77 points overall, while Kane has seven points in his last six games.

“It’s nice to see that many great players on your team,” added Panarin, whose first two NHL seasons were played alongside Kane with the Chicago Blackhawks. “We’re happy tonight.”

Zibanejad assisted on goals by Tarasenko and Trouba and has 25 points – including 14 goals – over his last 20 games.

“It was just one of those nights when the puck goes in for us,” Zibanejad said. “And obviously Igor gives us a boost making all those saves.”

NOTES: The Penguins were missing defenseman Jeff Petry after he was hit with an unpenalized elbow from Rangers forward Tyler Motte on Thursday. … Pittsburgh also scratched defenseman Jan Rutta and forward Dalton Heinen and played defenseman Mark Friedman for the first time since Feb. 11. … The Rangers were without injured defenseman Ryan Lindgren for the 10th straight game.

UP NEXT

Penguins: Host the Ottawa Senators on Monday.

Rangers: Host the Nashville Predators on Sunday night.

Senators beat Rangers 5-3 to spoil Patrick Kane’s debut

Associated PressMar 2, 2023, 11:31 PM EST

Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports

NEW YORK – The night was supposed to belong to Patrick Kane but it was former Ranger Derick Brassard who ultimately claimed the Manhattan spotlight for the surging Ottawa Senators .

Claude Giroux broke a tie early in the third period and Brassard scored twice in his 1,000th career game as the Senators beat New York 5-3 on Thursday night to spoil Kane’s Rangers debut.

“I just came in and tried to play hard,” said the 35-year-old Brassard, who played parts of four seasons for the Rangers, where he was a fan favorite and helped New York reach the Stanley Cup Finals in 2014. ”I’m going to remember this for the rest of my life. It was awesome.”

The Rangers led 3-2 entering the third after Vladimir Tarasenko scored a highlight-reel goal late in the second, but Ottawa scored twice in a two-minute span, then held on for its fourth straight victory.

Brassard tied it at 1:35 with his 11th of the season off an assist from Giroux, who beat netminder Jaroslav Halak for his 26th goal at 3:26 to put Ottawa ahead to stay.

Shane Pinto and Tim Stutzle (empty net) also scored for Ottawa, and Cam Talbot made 29 saves. The vaunted Rangers power play was scoreless in four extra-man attempts including a five-minute charging major and game misconduct assessed to Senators forward Austin Watson at 12:49 of the first period.

“Cam was solid,” Senators coach D.J. Smith said. ”He was our best penalty killer back there.”

Talbot denied Kane with a pad save with five minutes left in the third to preserve the win as the Rangers lost for only the second time in their last eight home games. The Rangers are still 24-8-4 since Dec. 5.

Ottawa has entered the playoff race with an 11-3-1 surge since losing at home to Winnipeg on Jan. 21.

“Our best players have stepped up and taken their play to another level,” Brassard added. ”Our commitment to check and defend and work has been everything. That’s why we are having success.”

Tarasenko go-ahead goal was dramatic as he skated in on Talbot before faking left and then backhanding the puck into the net on the goaltender’s opposite side at 14:54.

Chris Kreider and Jacob Trouba also scored for the Rangers, who couldn’t find any offense after Tarasenko’s goal. The Senators outshot the Rangers 12-6 in the third when they scored three times.

“When you play a game of hockey for 60 minutes, you got to do more stuff than just make the real nice passes,” Rangers coach Gerard Gallant said. “We’ve got to reset some pucks, we got to get better forechecking, more pressure.”

Kreider opened the scoring with a short-handed goal at 6:31 of the first, bursting in on Talbot before flipping a high backhand into the net for his 27th goal. The goal was the 256th of Kreider’s career, tying him with Camille Henry for sixth on the franchise list.

The Rangers went quiet late in the game on a night when Kane made his debut following his acquisition from Chicago, where he won the Stanley Cup three times.

Kane heard loud cheers when he skated out for the pregame warmups as fans cluttered rows on the New York side of the arena for a glimpse of the newest player wearing his customary No. 88. Kane was impressed with his Madison Square Garden reception.

“I didn’t really know what it was going to be like until I got out there,” said Kane, who played 16 seasons for Chicago, where the raucous United Center was home. “Warmups, the pregame introduction, it’s pretty cool. It’s an amazing place to play.”

Kane and his reunited Blackhawks teammate Panarin were the last two off the ice as Kane heard the roar of the crowd again before yet another thunderous ovation during starting lineup introductions.

Kane skated on right wing with Panarin and Trocheck at center but overall had a quiet game for the Rangers, registering only four shots and no points. He added that he expects to rediscover the chemistry he and Panarin shared in their two seasons together with the Blackhawks.

“I don’t think it’s something that’s going to happen overnight,” Kane said. “But we’ll find it.”

NOTES: The Rangers played with five defenseman as they were again without the injured Ryan Lindgren. K’Andre Miller served the second of a three-game suspension for spitting toward Los Angeles defenseman Drew Doughty last Sunday … Defenseman Jakob Chychruyn made his debut for the Senators after he was acquired from Arizona on Wednesday.

UP NEXT

Senators: Host Columbus on Saturday night.

Rangers: At Boston on Saturday.

Rangers acquire star winger Patrick Kane from Blackhawks

Associated PressMar 1, 2023, 12:11 AM EST

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The New York Rangers acquired Patrick Kane in a trade with the Chicago Blackhawks, reuniting the star winger with former teammate Artemi Panarin and stamping themselves as a Stanley Cup contender in the loaded Eastern Conference.

New York was believed to be out of the running for Kane after it acquired Vladimir Tarasenko from St. Louis on Feb. 9. The 34-year-old Kane also had been noncommittal when asked about leaving his only NHL home.

But Kane loved playing with Panarin for two seasons at the beginning of the Russian winger’s NHL career, and the three-time Stanley Cup champion was in control of his situation because of a no-movement clause in his contract.

“This has been an emotional time for me and my family, but I feel this decision puts me in the best spot to immediately win another Stanley Cup,” Kane said in a release. “This isn’t about me leaving the Blackhawks, but this is an opportunity for me – the Blackhawks did everything they could to put me in a great position and I will forever be grateful.”

After days of rumors and salary cap maneuvering, the Rangers sent a conditional 2023 second-round draft pick, a 2025 fourth-rounder and minor league defenseman Andy Welinski to the rebuilding Blackhawks for Kane and minor league defenseman Cooper Zech. Chicago also acquired Finnish defenseman Vili Saarijarvi from Arizona as part of the trade.

The Coyotes received a 2025 third-rounder from the Rangers to retain 25% of Kane’s salary, with the Blackhawks paying 50%.

The conditional second-rounder that Chicago got from New York becomes a 2024 first-rounder if the Rangers reach this year’s East final. If it remains a second-round selection, the Blackhawks will have eight picks in the first three rounds of the upcoming draft.

“A lot of emotions, to be honest. It doesn’t seem real right now, that we traded Patrick Kane,” Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson said. “But really excited for him to get a chance to play for the Rangers, play at Madison Square Garden with a really good team, and we’re looking forward to watching him compete with New York.”

Kane could make his Rangers debut Wednesday night at Philadelphia or Thursday night at home against Ottawa. He scored the biggest goal of his NHL career in Philly, an overtime winner in Game 6 of the 2010 Stanley Cup Final, ending Chicago’s 49-year title drought.

He was in the middle of his best stretch of the season when he left the Blackhawks during their road trip amid the trade talks. He has seven goals and three assists during a four-game point streak.

“I think Patrick recognized it was a good fit for him and it’s a good fit for us,” New York GM Chris Drury said. “We’re certainly excited that he wanted to be traded and that it was to the New York Rangers.”

New York got Tarasenko and depth defenseman Niko Mikkola in the trade with St. Louis. The Rangers made the deal at the time thinking the acquisition cost for Tarasenko would be less than what it would take to get Timo Meier, and they were wary about waiting for Kane to make a decision on his future.

But Drury only had to trade one first-round pick, a fourth-rounder and two players to St. Louis. After acquiring one first-rounder from Dallas last summer for young defenseman Nils Lundkvist, the Rangers had enough draft capital to obtain Kane from Chicago.

Kane was selected by the Blackhawks with the No. 1 pick in the 2007 draft. He is in the last season of an $84 million, eight-year contract extension that was finalized in July 2014.

Kane helped Chicago put together the best stretch in franchise history, winning the Stanley Cup in 2010, 2013 and 2015. The Blackhawks also made it to the Western Conference final in 2014, losing to the Los Angeles Kings in an epic seven-game series.

But the franchise has fallen on hard times of late. It is among the worst teams in the NHL this year, in the mix for the No. 1 overall pick in the draft and a chance to take Connor Bedard.

“The contributions Patrick Kane has made to the Blackhawks organization and city of Chicago will never be forgotten,” Blackhawks CEO Danny Wirtz said. “While today marks the end of an era for the team, he will forever be a part of the Blackhawks family.”

Kane has long been one of the league’s most gifted wingers. He has 16 goals and 29 assists in 54 games, and his numbers have been hurt by the lack of talent around him.

Kane also has a long history of playoff success. Beyond the series-clinching goal in 2010 against the Flyers, he won the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP in 2013.

He has 14 seasons with at least 21 goals and 13 years with at least 40 assists. He won the 2016 Hart Trophy as NHL MVP after he had a career-high 46 goals and 60 assists in 82 games.

Just last season, when Chicago had Alex DeBrincat and Dylan Strome, Kane scored 26 times and matched a career best with 66 assists in 78 games.