Filip Chytil\u2019s hot streak carries stunning Rangers over Stars

David Quinn noticed it in the morning, and it was easy to see it at night.

The atmosphere around the Rangers has quickly changed into something almost light-hearted, bordering on joyous. And it’s painted right there on the fresh face of 19-year-old Filip Chytil, who has spent the past week breaking out of his cocoon and entering the early stages of stardom.

The young Czech scored his fourth goal in as many games, this one standing up as the game-winner in his team’s 2-1 victory over the Stars on Monday night at the Garden.

Chytil became the first teenager in club history to record a four-game goal-scoring streak, and it has been part of the Rangers’ (11-8-2) torrid stretch of 8-1-1 going back to the middle of their California trip just before Halloween.

“I felt more confident after every game,” said Chytil, taken with the No. 21-overall pick in the 2017 draft and who had no goals and three assists before his streak started a week ago against the Canucks. “I can’t say the first 17 games, when I didn’t score a goal, that I wasn’t confident. I was confident. But now, it’s more and more. I’m happy that we are winning and I can help the team with goals.”

Quinn seemed downright exuberant after this one, speaking and laughing with an airiness that was in direct contrast to what had been some serious and heavy talk during the team’s 3-7-2 getaway.

“We were at the pregame skate today, and it just felt different than some of the other pregame skates,” Quinn said. “There was an enthusiasm — and winning does that. But what also does that is [the fact that] you can’t lie to yourself, and hard work feels good. It feels good. So these guys have put a lot into it. When you get rewarded with the wins, then you really have that feeling.”

It did help them a bit that the Stars (11-8-2) had played Sunday afternoon in Brooklyn, beating the Islanders 6-2. And they lost their starting goalie, Ben Bishop, when he didn’t come out to start the third period due to a lower-body injury, replaced by veteran backup Anton Khudobin.

That is when Chytil struck, taking advantage of a Dallas turnover, streaking into the zone and firing one through the legs of defenseman Joel Hanley and over Khudobin’s glove to give his team a 2-1 lead at 4:32. The Garden got honest-to-goodness loud, and a lot of it might have been coming from the Rangers bench, where the affable Chytil is becoming a team favorite.

“We all knew right away he’s extremely skilled. We saw that Day 1,” said goalie Henrik Lundqvist, who only faced 17 shots but made some sterling saves when he needed to. “Players like that, with an extremely high skill level, can be the difference-maker a lot of nights. It’s something to appreciate right now.”

The Rangers had actually gone down 1-0 when Tyler Seguin scored a power-play goal at 2:17 of the second period. But they were able to tie it as Jimmy Vesey got his seventh of the season on a falling-away, no-look backhand that snuck under Bishop at 9:38.

That set the stage for Chytil, which now sets the stage for the Thanksgiving Eve rematch here against the Islanders on Wednesday night. It won’t take much to remind the Rangers that the Islanders beat them 7-5 in Brooklyn on Thursday and that the old rivals have won 12 of the past 13 contests between the two squads.

But these Rangers, with Chytil leading the way, sure are rolling.

“There’s a calmness to us,” Quinn said. “I think because we built toward that over the last week and a half, there’s a confidence — OK, we’ve done that, we’ve done that. OK, now we have to do it again. And that’s how this works.”