Filip Chytil outplaying just about everyone on Rangers with next-level tenacity

There were just over two minutes to go at the Garden on Sunday, the Rangers were leading the Islanders, 4-2, and Filip Chytil was on the hunt for the puck that happened to be on the stick of defenseman Scott Mayfield. Mayfield is the Islander who sent Chytil to the locker room for a spell with a knee-on-knee hit in the Sept.24 exhibition game and then inflicted serious damage to Ryan Lindgren’s jaw when No.

55 came to his teammate’s defense. Sunday, as Chytil chased after the puck, he unleashed a two-hander that caught Mayfield’s right wrist.It was as vicious a play as I’d ever seen from Chytil and it sparked barking between the players before No.

72 went to the box. So I asked Chytil after the game if the slash had been payback.He said no, he insisted it was not that at all. “I was after the puck.

I didn’t see it was him, it was a big slash and of course I’m not happy for that because our guys had to kill a penalty in the last two minutes,” Chytil said after his team did kill that penalty and emerged with a 5-2 victory.“That was not the best thing I did.” If you’ll pardon me, I’ll give priority to my interpretation of what I saw on the ice over what I was told in the room 15 minutes after the fact. If you’ll pardon me, that was one of the very best things Chytil did. You know how I feel about the Rangers and retribution. There is no time like the present for Chytil, who has no time to waste.

He is playing at a different level, playing at a different pace than his teammates.He is ferocious with and without the puck.

Other than Igor Shesterkin, he has been the Rangers’ best player by leaps and bounds. “It’s my mindset, and I believe it’s the mindset of the other guys as well, to come to the rink every day and work hard to be the best version of myself,” Chytil told me a week ago.“Don’t be too satisfied with what you are accomplishing because it can go away.” Watching Chytil practice as he chews up the ice with...