The Rangers defeated the Chicago Blackhawks by a score of 4-3 and are now on a two game winning streak. The Blueshirts started off slow, but stepped up their game and played well for the final 50 minutes. Chris Kreider recorded two points and Lundqvist earned his 445th career win to put him tied for 6th place on the list all-time winningest goalies.After the game, Henrik recognized his milestone by saying, “It’s an honor to be up there.”
Despite the Blackhawks recent first period struggles, Brandon Saad gave Chicago an early lead as he knocked in a rebound off a double deflection that hit the near side post. The Blueshirts got back on track though, due to a magnificent goal by Filip Chytil at the 13:20 mark. This was Flip’s fourth point in five games played. Carrying the puck from the defensive zone ice, he made an inside out move and roofed the puck from in close. The goal was made possible due to anexcellent defensive play made by Jesper Fast and has been recognized as the goal of the week from the NHL. 4:38 later, Mats Zuccarello got on the board by pouncing on a loose puck tipped by Chris Kreider. Zuccarello has now posted 6 points in three games and has put his name as a hot target on the trade market.
In the second, the Rangers’ blue line shut down Patrick Kane’s team and only allowed 9 shots. Technically, the Blueshirts scored one goal, but they hit the back of the net twice with one being disallowed for being offsides. It wouldn’t matter much, because just minutes later Chris Kreider scored the Rangers’ third goal of the game off a 2 on 1 rush. It was Kreider’s 22nd of the season in 47 games played. Kreid’s is now on his way of trampling his career-best 28 goals in 75 games which he got during the 2016-17 campaign.
With a two goal advantage to start the third, all the Rangers needed to do was survive, and they just barely did. The Blueshirts allowed an early power play goal when Alex DeBrincat lit the lamp for the 24th time this season. The Rangers spent the majority of the third period with a one-goal lead and in the concluding seconds, Zibanejad netted his 15th of the season after firing the puck down the ice into the empty net. It seemed as if the Rangers were going to escape out of the Garden with a 4-2 win, but Chicago’s Dominik Kahun was able to squeak one by Henrik Lundqvist with just two seconds left to make the game 4-3.