NEW YORK – In their last game before embarking on a week-long, West Coast road trip, the New York Rangers put together the type of win that checked a lot of boxes. Their 3-2 victory over the San Jose Sharks on Thursday night at Madison Square Garden may have come at a significant cost, however. Forward Filip Chytil, who missed all but ten games of last year’s regular season due to a concussion, was injured in an awkward collision midway through the second period with teammate K’Andre Miller; both went for a loose puck in the offensive zone, and Chytil was essentially hit and knocked to the ice by Miller, with Chytil able to return for one shift but ultimately having to shut it down for the remainder of the game with what the organization termed as an “upper body injury.” In his postgame press conference, head coach Peter Laviolette offered the standard update whenever a player has left a game with injury, terming Chytil as “day-to-day” and that he was “being evaluated.” Given that uncertainty, however, there was evident concern in the locker room after the game from teammates who saw what he had to go through last season before a remarkable and somewhat unexpected return in the postseason. “Yeah, it sucks,” said defenseman Adam Fox. “Especially with Fil missing a lot of last year, it sucks to see. I didn’t really get too good of a look at it at the time, saw he came back for a second.  But obviously we’re hoping for the best.  It definitely sucks to see.” The uncertainty around Chytil, who had posted nine points in his first 15 games this season, cast a pall over an impressive win two days after something of a clunker over the league-best Winnipeg Jets. The story was to be Mika Zibanejad rebounding from one of his worst games as a pro on Tuesday to tally the Rangers’ opening goal in the second period, helping kickstart the team after an uneven first period saw them trailing by one. Zibanejad’s face showed the relief of being able to breakthrough in the moment, even if his comments were mostly measured after the game. “It was good to help the team, good to score, good to get the two points,” said Zibanejad, who was the focus of significant scrutiny from media and fans after a turnover-filled showing against Winnipeg. Ask his teammates, and that criticism never affected the way they looked at him. “The media (criticism), it doesn’t really make its way into the locker room too much,” Fox said.  “People can say whatever, but we know his importance.  Mika does a lot for us, whether it’s scoring goals or (penalty killing), all situations.  That was a big goal for us, and it was nice to see him get one.” Getting Zibanejad back on track? That box was seemingly checked. And so too was doing the same with their star goaltender, Igor Shesterkin, who recovered nicely from a shaky performance against the Jets to stop 25 of the 27 shots he faced in the win. But, most importantly, a team that had been in something of a minor tailspin seemed to snap out of it at a good time in advance of their trip out to Seattle; they’ll then head to Western Canada to face Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton before returning home on November 25, but not before laying something of a partial blueprint for how they’ll need to play to be successful there. “Unlucky break on that first goal (we gave up), but I thought we kind of picked it up as the game got going,” Fox said. “Halfway through the second there, we got our legs moving, we were playing in their zone and getting to the net for second chances and got rewarded for it.”