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New York Rangers vs Blackhawks: A battle of playoff wannabes

By Steve Paulus

NEW YORK, NY - JANUARY 17: Brandon Saad #20 of the Chicago Blackhawks bumps Mika Zibanejad #93 of the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on January 17, 2019 in New York City. The Rangers defeated the Blackhawks 4-3.(Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - JANUARY 17: Brandon Saad #20 of the Chicago Blackhawks bumps Mika Zibanejad #93 of the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on January 17, 2019 in New York City. The Rangers defeated the Blackhawks 4-3.(Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /
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CHICAGO, IL – OCTOBER 25: Brandon Saad #20 of the Chicago Blackhawks and Filip Chytil #72 of the New York Rangers chase the puck at the United Center on October 25, 2018 in Chicago, Illinois. The Blackhawks defeated the Rangers 4-1. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)
CHICAGO, IL – OCTOBER 25: Brandon Saad #20 of the Chicago Blackhawks and Filip Chytil #72 of the New York Rangers chase the puck at the United Center on October 25, 2018 in Chicago, Illinois. The Blackhawks defeated the Rangers 4-1. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images) /

About the Blackhawks

Patrick Kane is still the heart and soul of the Blackhawks.  He is leading the team in scoring with 27 goals and 74 points.  Jonathan Toews is second in scoring with 50 points, but then there is a dramatic dropoff in production.

Kane has not had a lot of success against the Rangers with only five goals in 16 games, second fewest he has had against any team.

Rookie left winger Dominik Kubalik has been the surprise of the season for the Hawks. Originally drafted by the Los Angeles Kings, he was signed by Chicago this summer after spending the last two years in Switzerland and in the Czech league before that.

After scoring six goals in his first 27 games, he caught fire, scoring 17 goals in his last 30 contests.  He leads all NHL rookies in goal scoring with 23 and has inserted himself into the Calder Trophy conversation, though at 24 he is older than his competition.

Robin Lehner will get the start in goal and he has a solid year going 16-9-5 with a 2.91 goals against average and a .921 save percentage.  He has supplanted Corey Crawford as the top netminder in Chicago.  The key question is whether the Hawks will deal the pending free agent.

The Blackhawks are 19th in the league in goals per game, averaging 2.93 per game.  They are dead last in the NHL on the power play scoring at a 14% clip.  Defensively, Chicago allows 3.12 goals per game, 20th best in the league.  Their penalty kill is better, killing off 81.7% of their penalties, 12th best in the NHL.

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