Blackhawks Defeat New York Rangers 2-1 in Spirited Affair

Antti Raanta and the New York Rangers were unable to extend their winning streak to four games against the Chicago Blackhawks Tuesday night at MSG. They lost by a score of 2-1.

In a feature here at Blue Line Station, we will be providing thoughts and analysis following every Rangers game. Make sure to stop by after games to see what you might have missed!

Game Action:

• The New York Rangers were without captain Ryan McDonagh, who was a late scratch with the flu. Antti Raanta also started in net for the 4th straight game, this time against his former club. In net for the Chicago Blackhawks was backup Scott Darling.
• The opening minutes were spent with both teams stretching the ice. The first power play of the night was given to the Blackhawks when Brady Skjei was called for hooking 4 minutes into the first period.
• Chicago forced Raanta to make a few saves early in the power play, but the Rangers 4th ranked penalty kill continued their dominance, killing 10 straight penalties at that point.
• Through 10 minutes of play, the Rangers had generated 2 shots on goal, one coming from Kevin Hayes shorthanded. Meanwhile, Chicago continued to pressure Antti Raanta and the Rangers defense.
• The Rangers had their first real scoring opportunity 12 minutes into the first period when Brady Skjei carried deep into the zone and centered a pass for Brandon Pirri that was sent wide. The Blackhawks followed up with a dangerous opportunity of their own.
• Brady Skjei was forced into the locker room in the final minutes of the first period after being caught by an errant Kevin Hayes skate on the jaw.
• The game remained scoreless through one period, Blackhawks held the lead in shots 11-7.
• Brady Skjei did not return to the Rangers bench at the beginning of the second period. New York came out strong, generating stretches of offensive zone time and multiple breakaway opportunities in the first 5 minutes.
• Right after the five-minute mark, the Blackhawks dumped the puck into the Rangers zone and Artemi Panarin found Trevor van Riemsdyk in front of the net for his first goal of the season. That ended Antti Raanta’s shutout streak at 176:22. Blackhawks took the lead 1-0.
• Minutes later, the Rangers tied the game using a relentless forecheck. Oscar Lindberg fed the puck to the side of the net off of Jesper Fast, who buried the rebound off of his arm. Joel Quenneville challenged the goal, but the play was ruled clean. 1-1 on the Fast goal.
• It seemed that Chris Kreider had handed the Blackhawks their second power play of the game with a boarding call 12 minutes into the second period. However, Chicago was called for too-many-men on the ice at the same time. The majority of the 4-on-4 play was spent in the Rangers zone, but neither team scored.
• Late in the second period, Brady Skjei returned to the Rangers bench.

• With the Rangers carrying play in the final minutes of the period, the Blackhawks spoiled their momentum with a tie-breaking goal from former Ranger Artem Anisimov. Chicago carried the lead into the second period intermission 2-1. New York had the advantage in shots 23-18.
• The third period began slowly with the Rangers driving the majority of the play in Chicago’s zone through the first 5 minutes. The Blackhawks did a good job of closing shooting lanes, limiting New York’s scoring opportunities.
• The Rangers continued to apply pressure through the midway point of the third period. With Chicago tightening up defensively, the Rangers began to crowd the goal crease in order to generate chances.
• Alain Vigneault called Antti Raanta to the bench with a little over a minute left in the third period. The Rangers began firing shots towards the net and forced Scott Darling to make tough saves. Unfortunately, New York was unable to put anything past Darling.
• Final Score: Chicago Blackhawks 2 New York Rangers 1. Shots 34-26 in favor of the Rangers.

Final Analysis:

• There were moments in this game that it looked like the two teams would engage in a shootout. With the score close through the first two, both teams used speed and space to combat strong goaltending. After the second period ended Chicago began to close down any lanes the Rangers had.
• Jimmy Vesey was the Rangers most dangerous offensive force in this one. It seemed like every time the puck touched his stick, he was ready to explode. He led the team with 7 shots on goal.
• On the other hand, Brandon Pirri has seemed to struggle of late. He had 0 shots on goal in Tueday’s game. When he isn’t scoring, his two-way play leaves something to be desired. With recent strong play from Marek Hrivik and Oscar Lindberg, Pirri could see time in the press box when the team gets healthy.
• The Rangers defense without Ryan McDonagh and Brady Skjei for a large portion of the game was not horrible. The continued strong play of Antti Raanta masked some of their miscues, but there were few glaring issues.

Next: New York Rangers: J.T. Miller is the Rangers’ new Ryan Callahan

• As for Raanta, he gave the Rangers a chance to win this game and continues to be a fantastic number two for New York. However, that is exactly what he is, and the Rangers will need their true number one, Henrik Lundqvist, to be strong in net against Dallas Thursday night.