Rangers' Filip Chytil, Chris Kreider practice with team ahead of game against Avalanche

DENVER — Forwards Filip Chytil and Chris Kreider practiced fully on Monday, and to the untrained eye, both looked ready to return to the lineup on Tuesday night when the Rangers face the Avalanche in the middle of a three-game road trip.

Coach Peter Laviolette wasn’t ready or willing to confirm anything, however.

“Right now, they just went through a day of practice,’’ Laviolette said after the team’s 50-minute session at the University of Denver. “We made sure we got them reps, we made sure that they were involved in practice, and now we’ll see where everything is at.’’

For now, Kreider remains on injured reserve, where he’s been since Jan. 7 (retroactive to Jan. 5) with an upper-body injury. Chytil has missed the last two games, also because of an upper-body injury, but said Monday he does not have a concussion.

“No concussion issues,’’ he said while being careful not to reveal what the injury actually is. “It’s a little more complicated . . . I cannot say anything more than that.’’

Chytil has a history of suspected concussions and missed the final 72 regular-season games last season with what was believed to be a concussion. But the Rangers’ policy in reporting injuries to the media is to describe them only as upper- or lower-body injuries.

Whatever the injury is, it doesn’t take away that Chytil had been the team’s hottest player before he had to exit the lineup on Jan. 7 against Dallas.

“It’s not the first time that’s happened in my career, unfortunately,’’ he said, adding that it’s been “frustrating’’ to watch the Rangers play and be unable to help. “When I get back, whenever it’s gonna be, I have to find [the good groove] back . . . I’ve got to build on what was before.

“Of course it sucks that I’ve got to miss the time, and I have missed so much time in my career,’’ he said. “But every time I’m back, I just think that I have to work hard and focus to be better. That’s my goal.’’

At Monday’s practice, Laviolette had Chytil and Kreider together on the third line along with newcomer Arthur Kaliyev. He chose to keep the top two lines of Artemi Panarin-Vincent Trocheck-Alexis Lafreniere and Will Cuylle-Mika Zibanejad-Reilly Smith together instead of reuniting Kreider with Zibanejad and Cuylle with Chytil.

“The top lines have been set for a few games — the Trocheck line and the Zibanejad line,’’ Laviolette said. “We put a line together [with Chytil and Kreider] just to try it out in practice. We’ll see where things are at.’’

Notes & quotes: Laviolette was asked about rookie forward Brett Berard, who was sent back to AHL Hartford before the Rangers left for this trip. Laviolette said Berard’s 19-game stint with the team, during which he had three goals and four assists, was “really good . . . sometimes there are openings and sometimes there are not. When you’re talking about young players, you always want to be mindful of their development, to keep them developing. So he’s gone back down after a good, solid stint with us to continue to develop.’’

By Colin Stephenson

colin.stephenson@newsday.comColinSNewsday

Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.