NEW YORK _ Night after night, as the games piled up and the goals still refused to come for 19-year-old rookie Filip Chytil, Rangers coach David Quinn would keep saying, over and over, that he had a feeling that once the first one went in for Chytil, a bunch more would follow after that.
Well, the first one went in for Chytil four games ago, and the goals really did start coming _ one in every game since that power-play goal against Vancouver on Nov. 12. Chytil scored Monday for the fourth consecutive game, breaking a third-period tie against the Dallas Stars at the Garden and lifting the Rangers to a 2-1 victory that was their second straight win and eighth in the last 10 games (8-1-1). Chytil, one of two first-round picks by the Rangers in 2017, became the first Rangers teenager to score in four straight games.
Chytil, who was goalless in the first 18 games of the season, pounced on a Dallas turnover in the neutral zone and turned on the jets to enter the Dallas zone and fire a top-of-the-right-circle wrist shot over the catching glove of Dallas goaltender Anton Khudobin at 4:32 of the third period. The Rangers (11-8-2, 24 points) then had to find a way to protect the lead, a task they've had some trouble with this season. They did, and now move on to a Wednesday rematch at the Garden with the Islanders, who beat them Thursday.
Playing for the second straight game _ and the fifth time in the last six games _ without Mats Zuccarello (groin strain) the Rangers made one change in their lineup from the group that beat Florida, 4-2, on Saturday, inserting newly called-up winger Steven Fogarty at right wing on the fourth line, in place of the demoted Vinni Lettieri.
Meanwhile, despite making 37 saves Sunday in Dallas' 6-2 win over the Islanders in Brooklyn, Ben Bishop got the start in net again for the Stars, going in both ends of the back-to-back. "He's 10-2-2 in this rink, with like, a .939" save percentage, Stars coach Jim Montgomery explained.
But Bishop would leave the game after two periods, having faced 13 Rangers shots and allowing one goal. He left the game with a lower body injury, according to the Stars' media relations department. His backup, Khudobin, took over to start the third.
Aided by a couple of power plays, including a five-on-three advantage for 15 seconds, the Stars had the better of play in the first period, and outshot the Rangers 7-4 in the opening 20 minutes. They took the lead at 2:17 of the second period on a power-play goal by Tyler Seguin, with Mika Zibanejad in the box.
When Freddie Claesson was sent off for a tripping penalty a couple of minutes later, the Rangers could have fallen into a deep hole, but the Rangers killed off the penalty and shortly thereafter, at 7:19, Dallas forward Jason Dickinson took a high-sticking penalty that gave the Rangers a power play of their own. They didn't score on the man advantage, but they did a few seconds after it expired, when Jimmy Vesey managed a crazy, back-to-the-goal, backhand shot as he was falling down that somehow got past Bishop. The goal was the seventh of the season for Vesey.
That _ and a superb glove save by Henrik Lundqvist (16 saves) on Alexander Radulov with 1:05 left in the period _ got the Rangers to intermission tied at 1.
