A 6-3 goal-fest win over the Blackhawks

The game

The Rangers got off to a fast start when Filip Chytil broke into the Chicago zone and beat Robin Lehner.

It was a great rush by Chytil but a bad goal allowed by Lehner as it slipped between his legs.  Coming at the 1:58 mark, it gave the Rangers the early lead in a road game, something they needed to do.

The first period was evenly played with the slight edge in favor of the Rangrers.  The Rangers had more shot opportunities than the Blackhawks and led in most offensive categories.  The teams finished tied in shots on goal and the Rangers took a 1-0 lead into the second period.

The lead didn’t last long once the second period began as Chicago’s outstanding rookie, Domink Kubalik knotted the score.  His goal came at the 2:29 mark after the period started with a series of opportunities for both teams.   Duncan Keith made a fabulous pass to Kubalik who was wide open and uncovered in the slot and he buried the shot past Shesterkin.

At that point, the ice was tilted in the Blackhawks favor.  They outshot the Blueshirs 16-10 and had 26 shot attempts to the Rangers’ 17.  Not only that, the Rangers had to kill two penalties to the Blackhawks’ one.  Chicago came into this game with the worst power play in the league and the Rangers were able to escape unscathed. Igor Shesterkin made a number of outstanding saves to keep the Rangers in the game as the teams exchanged golden scoring opportunities.

The third period began and it was clear that the game would go to the team that wanted it more. This night, it was the Rangers.  Seconds after a Ryan Strome shot hit the post, Pavel Buchnevich buried his 14th goal of the season.

The goal was all due to hard work by Chris Kreider who took a heavy hit behind the net, escaped with the puck and made the perfect pass to Buchnevich in the slot.  For the third period in a row, a team scored in the first two and a half minutes of the period.

This time however, Ryan Strome scored less than two minutes later, getting the goal he had just missed earlier.

Strome was able to get to the rebound of a shot by Anthony DeAngelo and he put it past Lehner’s pads to give the Rangers a 3-1 lead.  It was a power play goal with the penalty a hold on Olli Matta who held Julien Gauthier when he broke into the Chicago zone.  Gauthier showed some outstanding speed on the play and Matta had no choice but to foul him.

Wih the two goal lead play got a little sloppy and it didn’t take long for Dominik Kuballik to score his second goal on a breakaways., Drake Caggiula was able to chip the puck to Kublalik who broke in past a flat footed Jacob Trouba and he beat Shesterkin with a backhand.

Chris Kreider restored the two goal lead at the 8:48 mark.

It was a classic Kreider move on a three-on-two rush by the Zibanejad line. He beat the defense and put the backhand past Lehner for the Rangers fifth goal.

Less than one minute later, Artemi Panarin took advantage of sloppy work by the Blackhawks to score again.

Dylan Strome couldn’t control the puck after an Adam Fox rush was broken up and he ended up putting the puck on Panarin’s stick and he fired a spectacular shot into the Hawks’ goal.   Panarin had been eager to score against his old team the whole game and he was clearly delighted he was able to do it.

With a 5-2 lead, defense wasn’t the priority of either team and Drake Caggiula buried a Jonathan Toews pass through Shesterkin who got a piece of the puck, but it trickled through.  Caggiula was wide open and Shesterkin had no chance on the shot.

The final goal of the game came from Mika Zibanejad at the 13:37 mark.

The goal was the result of hard work in the Chicago zone by the Zibanejad line and it came off a pass to the front of the net that Zibanejad deflected by Lehner to close out the scoring.

That was it for goals as both teams had over 40 shots in the game. It was a strong road effort, though not as tight defensively as David Quinn would have liked.  It did show the firepower possessed by the Blueshirts, but the scary piece of the puzzle is Chris Kreider who was the most dynamic offensive player for the Rangers.  The question is whether he will be in a Rangers uniform on Tuesday and if not, how will it affect the Blueshirts’ offense.