Rangers Conclude Season Series with Chicago

Rangers	NHL Rankings	Blackhawks
16-4-3	Record	9-13-2
5^th	NHL Standing Rank	24^th
17^th	GF/PG	30^th
5^th	GA/PG	23^rd
10^th	PP%	19^th
15^th	PK%	9^th

Previous Game

The Blueshirts defeated the Blackhawks in Madison Square Garden by a score of 3-2. With Igor Shesterkin out of the lineup, Alex Georgiev stepped up in his place and played a solid game. Georgiev made 25 saves for his third win of the season.

The night belonged to former Blackhawk Artemi Panarin. Panarin recorded a three-point night including the game-winning goal in the third period. Panarin was loved in Chicago after he took the league by storm by winning the Calder Trophy (rookie of the year).

“In the beginning, when I played against Chicago for the first time, I was really shaky,” said Panarin. “Right now, I have full confidence….”

Rangers

Now the Rangers will be looking for a repeat performance as they hope to extend their win streak to seven-in-a-row. The Blueshirts played a smart defensive game and did a good job limiting the chances of Chicago. Both of the Blackhawks’ goals were controversial and the Rangers believed they had a case that both could’ve been overturned. Head coach Gerard Gallant challenged the first goal scored by Patrik Kane for a high stick pass in the lead up to the goal. Seth Jones’s stick was ruled not over his shoulders and the goal was allowed to stand. The other goal came after Georgiev appeared to have the puck covered. After a couple of seconds, Kirby Dach collided with Georgiev after a push from Patrik Nemeth and the puck inched over the line. After initially ruled as no goal, the refs overturned their decision. It was ruled that Nemeth pushing Dach negated possible goaltender interference. But there was also the question of if the whistle had blown or the official’s intent to blow the whistle. This was never explained to the viewing audience and it is unknown if this was taken into consideration before awarding Chicago with the goal.

Panarin recorded his first career point against the Rangers as a member of the Blackhawks. On Tuesday night, he will have the opportunity to record his 500th career point against the Blackhawks as a member of the Rangers.

The Blueshirts did not allow a “clear-and-obvious” goal in the first meeting and they will want to repeat that. With a back-to-back starting on Tuesday night, the Rangers will want to roll all four lines and do their best to keep everyone fresh. Georgiev will once again make the start for the Rangers and could get the start on Wednesday night against a high-powered Avalanche squad. Gallant said he will see how the game in Chicago plays out before deciding if Georgiev will play in back-to-back nights or if Adam Huska will make his first career start.

Blackhawks

Chicago will be looking for revenge as they look to split the season series. For Chicago, this wasn’t a home-and-home as they played in Long Island on Sunday night and defeated the Islanders 3-2 in a shootout. That victory improved the Blackhawks’ record to 8-4-0 since the coaching change and handed the Islanders their 11 straight games without a win.

The big news that came out of Chicago just a few days ago was that forward Tyler Johnson will be out of the lineup for at least three months following a disc-replacement surgery. This was the same surgery that Jack Eichel received and Johnson will now be out until March at the earliest. Johnson had just three points in eight games to start the season.

Backup goaltender Kevin Lankinen made the start against the Rangers in the first meeting, but now the Rangers can expect to see starting netminder Marc-Andre Fleury. Fleury came over from Vegas in the offseason and he has a strong .913 save percentage to start the year.

What to watch

It will be important to keep an eye on the Rangers’ third line also known as the kid line. Alexis Lafreniere, Filip Chytil, and Julien Gauthier continue to play very well and create a ton of scoring opportunities. However, they haven’t been as clinical as you would like and it will be important that they start to finish some of their scoring chances. The Blueshirts are playing in Chicago, against a historical franchise, on the road, without their starting goaltender will prove to be a tough game. The third line could help ease the pressure with a scoring contribution.