New York Rangers: Sneaking past the Blackhawks 4-3

The New York Rangers hosted the Chicago Blackhawks for a Thursday night game. The Rangers sought revenge for a 4-1 defeat in Chicago in October.

The New York Rangers hosted the Chicago Blackhawks in hopes of a better outcome than their 4-1 defeat in Chicago in October.  They got revenge with a 4-3 win.

That loss featured many cringe-worthy moments, including probably the worst effort of the season for both Brady Skjei and Adam McQuaid.

But this night the Rangers were coming off a dominant victory over the Carolina Hurricanes, a game in which three different players had two goals.  It was overall one of the team’s best performances of the season.

The first period of tonight’s game, however, was a combination of good and bad luck with officiating. There was a missed high sticking call on the Blackhawks as a stick caught Jesper Fast in the face. Then Cody McLeod was called for a penalty. Chicago scored on the ensuing powerplay, ending a streak of 15 straight penalty kills.

Later in the period, the Rangers found their footing. Jesper Fast took down a Blackhawks player and Filip Chytil carried the puck down to the other end of the ice. He made no mistake and lifted the puck over Collin Delia to tie the game.

Blackhawks’ captain Jonathan Toews spoke to the ref about a possible missed penalty call, but it was too late.

A few minutes later Marc Staal took a shot that was deflected by Kreider and hit the goal post. But Mats Zuccarello was there to put the puck over the goal line and give the Rangers the lead going into the second period.

The second period was probably the Rangers’ best, and the Blackhawks’ worst. The Rangers found their rhythm and added another tally to the board. At least they thought they did.

Tony DeAngelo and Mika Zibanejad entered the Blackhawks’ zone on a 2-on-1. DeAngelo’s pass to Zibanejad was right on point and the Rangers took a 3-1 lead.

However, Chicago challenged for offsides and won. The Rangers were inches over the line before the puck, and it was back to 2-1.

The Blackhawks would not make it out of the period unscathed, though. Duncan Keith mishandled the puck and Kreider took full advantage. Now the score was back to 3-1 and stayed that way through intermission.

There were some missed calls on the Blackhawks throughout the game, with the Rangers only earning one powerplay and not converting. The Blackhawks had three powerplays, converted on one in the first period, and one in the third.

Not even two minutes into the period, Jesper Fast was called for tripping. Chicago’s Alex DeBrincat put a one-time shot behind Henrik Lundqvist to make it a 3-2 game.

The Rangers and Blackhawks spent the third period exchanging scoring chances, but both Lundqvist and Delia stood tall for their teams. In the final 30 seconds, Mika Zibanejad would secure the Rangers’ win with an empty netter.

However, the game didn’t quite end there. With one second left, Dominik Kahun was able to sneak a shot past Lundqvist to cut the lead back down to one goal. The effort was too late, though and after one last faceoff the Rangers emerged victorious.

Now the Rangers have won two in a row and three out of their last four. They will play in Boston on Saturday in the last game before the bye week and All-Star break.

Stars of the game

Chris Kreider

Chris Kreider scored his 22nd goal tonight (leads the team) and had a two point performance. He has five points in his last four games and continues to prove why he is a key part of the Rangers’ offense night in and night out.

Despite not getting credit for the goal that went to Mats Zuccarello, his positioning led to the deflection of Marc Staal’s shot. His chemistry with Zuccarello and Mika Zibanejad is undeniable and is also a key factor in the solid stretch the Rangers are having. He remains on pace to score over 40 goals for the first time in his career.

Mats Zuccarello

Mats Zuccarello has faced some criticisms this season, but his play as of late should silence those haters.

Zuccarello and Zibanejad were tied for the lead in ice time for forwards (just over 20 minutes), and he led the team in shots on goal. He was also a +3 on the night with two blocked shots.

That overall performance is why he is so important to the Rangers and why his possible trade value is so high. His ability to find his teammates with passes and to just create scoring chances in general is what helps create offense and keep the Rangers in games. Not to mention he also earns powerplay and penalty kill time.

While some people can be hard on Zuccarello, it’s hard to deny that he was tonight’s first star.