'Kid Line' more than all right, leads Rangers in Game 1 of Eastern Final

NEW YORK -- If they're going to keep playing this well, they'll probably need a better nickname.

For now, it's the "Kid Line," but Filip Chytil, Kaapo Kakko and
Alexis Lafreniere
have been playing like seasoned veterans for the New York Rangers throughout the Stanley Cup Playoffs even though they're 22, 21 and 20 years old, respectively.
They were never better than they were in the Rangers' 6-2 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Final at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday. Chytil scored two goals, Lafreniere had two assists, and Kakko had one assist.
"I'm really impressed," center Mika Zibanejad said.
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On a good night for just about everyone on the home team, the kids were easily New York's best line at even strength.
"It was close to their best (game) if it wasn't their best, for sure," Rangers coach Gerard Gallant said. "They got inside, they scored some nice goals, they made some plays. They're attacking. They're a confident bunch of kids now, and we need that to continue."
Chytil scored back-to-back goals on one-timers 5:34 apart in the second period to give the Rangers a 4-2 lead. He has seven goals in 15 playoff games after scoring eight goals in 67 regular-season games this season.
"He's grown up to be a man," Gallant said. "He's 22 years old, and he's confident in his game and he feels good about his game. He always has, but now he's really stepping it up."
Kakko set Chytil up for the first goal from the slot with a pass from behind the net that split Lightning forward Ross Colton and defenseman Victor Hedman. Chytil buried it at 10:09 to make it 3-2. Lafreniere had the second assist.
Chytil then scored from the right circle at 15:43.
Adam Fox made a play at the blue line to keep the puck in the zone seven seconds before the goal. Fox then fed Lafreniere, who gave the puck to K'Andre Miller for a circle-to-circle pass to Chytil for the insurance goal.
The goal capped a shift of more than a minute in the offensive zone for the Kid Line. They controlled the play, kept the pressure on, moved the puck high to low, and forced the Lightning players to keep turning and shifting, their heads spinning.
"All three of us guys, we can play with the puck, we are strong down low and that's exactly what we were doing," Chytil said. "That was exactly the same mindset that we had through the whole playoffs. The defensemen, they helped us there with keeping the puck in the zone. That was a great shift and we finished it with a goal."
Chytil, Lafreniere and Kakko have been building their chemistry since just before the end of the regular season, when Gallant put them together.

He kept them together for Game 1 of the first round against the Pittsburgh Penguins, when it would have been easy to break the line apart and try to put each of them with at least one experienced player.
Sticking with it has turned into one of Gallant's best coaching decisions of the playoffs because for most of the Rangers' 15 games, the Kid Line has arguably been their best line at even strength.
"That line has been unbelievable for us," forward Barclay Goodrow said. "They bring it every single night. Everyone talks about experience, but it doesn't seem to be phasing them. They're showing up in all the big moments and scoring some big goals for us."
Chytil's growth is the most obvious.
Gallant said on March 2, when he was bringing Chytil back into the lineup after he missed three games, two in a row as a healthy scratch, that he wanted him to play like Zibanejad, meaning with power in his game, strength on the puck and relentless competitiveness.
"He's not a Zibanejad-type of hockey player, but he got the message," Gallant said. "'Fil' is a good kid. He worked hard. He competes hard and he deserves what he's getting right now."
Gallant even moved up Chytil to play with Zibanejad and Chris Kreider in Game 3 against the Carolina Hurricanes after the two top-line forwards were quiet in Games 1 and 2, both losses.
Kreider and Zibanejad got it going that night. The Rangers are 5-1 since Game 3 and 4-0 since the Kid Line has been back together.
"They have greatly improved and contributed throughout the playoffs," forward Artemi Panarin said through a translator. "They're just a joy to watch, to be honest. They're a huge part of the team."
Perhaps the best part for the Rangers is it's their third line.
Lafreniere (14:21), Chytil (13:35) and Kakko (12:25) are eighth, ninth and 12th, respectively, in ice time per game in the playoffs among New York's forwards.
"It's hard to match up against," defenseman Jacob Trouba said. "You always have the top six forwards, the top two lines that play a certain way, and then to be able to have a third line that can create offense, create momentum, chances, score some goals for us, that's huge."
The Lightning had that the past two years with Yanni Gourde, Blake Coleman and Goodrow. They're credited with being a huge part of back-to-back Stanley Cup championships.
Now, it's the Kid Line earning the credit it deserves.
"It started the first game of the playoffs and it just clicked," Chytil said. "We started to play well. We started to play with confidence. We're young guys so we don't think too much about anything else, we're just having fun out there, playing hard and working for the team."