The New York Rangers defeated the Chicago Blackhawks 4-3 at the United Center on Friday, February 9th. The Blackhawks came close to a comeback late in the third period but ended up adding another unfortunate loss to their losing streak.
Rangers lineup against the Blackhawks:
Kreider – Zibanejad – Wheeler
Panarin – Trocheck – Lafreniere
Cuylle – Brodzinski – Kakko
Vesey – Goodrow – Pitlick
Lindgren – Fox
Miller – Trouba
Gustafsson – Schneider
Shesterkin
Quick
Blackhawks lineup against the Rangers:
Foligno – Kurashev – Raddysh
Blackwell – Dickinson – Anderson
Reichel – Entwistle – Johnson
Katchouk – Pitlick – Donato
Vlasic – Jones
Korchinski – Megna
Tinordi – Phillips
Mrazek
Soderblom
Early into the first period, Alex Vlasic scored his second goal of the season. After the puck deflected off Will Cuylle’s stick, Vlasic grabbed the puck near the top left circle and scored with a wrist shot. Alexis Lafreniere tied it up 1-1 not long after Vlasic’s goal. Lafreniere took a pass in the right circle, K’Andre Miller, and scored a one-timer. Giving the Rangers the 2-1 lead, Chris Kreider struck his 24th goal of the season. Kreider tipped in a pass from Adam Fox while he was standing off the crease.
Jonny Brodzinski continued the Rangers’ lead, pushing it to 3-1 in the middle frame. Brodzinski tapped in a rebound of Kaapo Kakko’s shot. New York held their 3-1 lead throughout the rest of the second period.
Nick Foligno cut it 3-2 late into the third period. Foligno scored on the rebound of Philipp Kurashev’s shot from in front of the net. Jason Dickinson tied it 3-3 with 1:02 remaining in the third period. Dickinson scored a tip-in of a shot from Seth Jones at the right point. The Rangers and Blackhawks head into overtime, 3-3.
Mika Zibanejad scored on a wrist shot at the right circle on a pass by Chris Kreider… wrapping it up and getting the Rangers the 4-3 final.
Notes:
– The Rangers won their fourth game straight… Two of the four wins ended in overtime
– Adam Fox became the sixth player in Rangers history to record 30 assists in each of his first five seasons with the franchise.
– Chris Kreider had a goal and an assist
– Adam Fox recorded two assists
– Mika Zibanejad recorded his eighth overtime goal with the New York Rangers. He surpassed Cecil Dillon, Butch Keeling, and Brian Leetch for the most in franchise history.
– Igor Shesterkin made 28 saves for New York
– The Chicago Blackhawks have a 6-game losing streak
– Petr Mrazek made 31 saves for Chicago
Alex Vlasic on the Blackhawks’ 4-3 loss, battling back and working on his shot: “I think we battled back pretty well there. They’re obviously one of the better teams in the league, and to get that second and third goal it’s good for us. We’ve been struggling to even put up one sometimes… Step in the right direction for sure just got to execute there – I’ve been trying to work on my shot quite a bit this year. I feel like I’ve got quite a few chances that I haven’t been able to capitalize on. That’s an area in the second half of the year that I’m trying to get a little bit better at and contribute.”
Mika Zibanejad on the Rangers’ 4-3 win and the Blackhawks: “I thought we did an okay job in the first period – They work hard, I give them credit. They’re fast, and they work hard. I think there’s execution and maybe slow decision-making at times that put us in trouble. It’s not one of our greatest performances, but at the end of the day, it’s easier to look at it and demand more from ourselves when we get the two points.”
