It was a bittersweet return home for Kevin Shattenkirk, as the kid from New Rochelle who grew up rooting for the Rangers made his debut for the Blueshirts during their season-opening 4-2 loss to the Avalanche on Thursday night at the Garden.
“I think the result still stings right now,” Shattenkirk said after he finished with an assist and a minus-3 rating (one goal-against being an empty-netter). “When I look back on it a long time from now, it will obviously be a great moment for me. It’s still a special night in my career. But right now I think I am just a little upset with the result of some plays out there that I felt like I could have had a better effect on the game and helped our team out a little bit more.”
The Rangers signed Shattenkirk to a four-year, $26.6 million deal worth $6.65 million per season this summer with the hopes that he could bring some life and offense to their back end. He showed that talent with a terrific assist on the first of two power-play goals for Mika Zibanejad.
But Shattenkirk also admitted he needed to be better when Matt Duchene beat him to the front of the net for the game-opening goal 5 minutes 29 seconds in.
“I think it definitely was not my best,” was how he started the self-evaluation of his game. “I think I need to be better with my gap. When you’re playing against better players, you can’t give them that much speed through the neutral zone. That first goal, I have to be boxing guys out in the net-front, making sure Duchene doesn’t get that second chance there. Aside from that, there were definitely some good things.”
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Filip Chytil , the 18-year-old rookie center, got only 7:40 of ice time, with just three shifts in the third period and none over the final 8:37. With no prominent spot on either speciality team during a game that was rife with penalties, it was hard for coach Alain Vigneault to find the time to get him on the ice.
The highlight of Chytil’s NHL debut was a 2-on-1 less than two minutes into the game when he chose to pass cross ice and it was broken up.
“I think if he makes that play there it gets him going,” Vigneault said. “It was a first game for a young man. I’m sure he was excited and he’ll be better next game.”
During the morning skate, Vigneault said he thought Chytil was terrifically relaxed before joining his line with Rick Nash and Mats Zuccarello.
“I looked at him skating around the ice — I don’t know if he knows this our first game,” Vigneault said. “He was having a great time, soaking it in. Kids sometimes don’t know the pressure that you’re under and just go out and play. It seems that was the way he was this morning. Probably didn’t expect to be here in Game 1, and here he is. He’s having a blast and hopefully he can play well for us.”
The scratches were Nick Holden and Steven Kampfer on defense, while injured winger Jesper Fast was the only extra forward besides Andrew Desjardins, who remains with the team on his professional tryout.