Rangers speed too much for Hawks, win season opener

The New York Rangers caught the Chicago Blackhawks in a bit of a Stanley Cup ceremony lull in the first period, jumping out to a 3-1 lead on the backs of their middle-six forwards. The Rangers came out aggressive, fast, got pucks to the net, and capitalized on a number of chances. Chicago was clearly overmatched in the first period. The Hawks settled down in the second period, cutting the lead to 3-2 and exploiting a Rangers top-four that has had a bit of a slow start to the preseason and season. If not for the Kevin Klein/Keith Yandle pairing, I’d say the Rangers are in trouble. But they survived, even with gaffes from all four of their top four.

Back to those middle-six, wow did they have a game. The Kreider-Stepan-Hayes line clicked, as did the Stalberg-Lindberg-Miller line. That sextet can really take the pressure off the top line, which didn’t have the best game. When the top line gets clicking, the Rangers have three fast, skilled lines. That fourth line was very solid as well. All in all, a solid first win for the Rangers.

As always, you can view the full videos on our video page here. All GIFs are on nyrgifs.com, filtered under yesterday’s date. On to the goals:

Rangers 1, Hawks 0

Lindberg’s first goal of his career

The Hawks misconnected on their rush in the Rangers zone, leading to a 3-on-2 for the Rangers with J.T. Miller, Oscar Lindberg, and Viktor Stalberg. Stalberg cut to the net, and Miller tried to hit him with the pass. The puck ricocheted back to Miller, who found Lindberg wide open on the doorstep for the first goal of his career. Notice how Lindberg opens up for the shot the entire time. Kid has some brains.

Hawks 1, Rangers 1

Panirin’s first of his career.

Marc Staal simply overcommitted to Patrick Kane on the boards. Kane flipped the puck over Staal to Artemi Panirin in front. Anyone in the NHL will score from there.

Rangers 2, Hawks 1

Klein and Yandle seem to click early.

During a delayed penalty, the Rangers got the puck deep, and Keith Yandle went to work. Kevin Klein planted himself on the right dot, and Yandle got the puck from Miller at the point. Yandle faked the shot, drawing defenders, and made a perfect pass to Klein. Klein one-timed the pass, which hit a Hawk defenseman, and beat Crawford.

Rangers 3, Hawks 1

Stepan follows up the rush with the goal

Kevin Hayes blocked a shot, and the ensuing ricochet went all the way to the Hawks zone. Hayes and Chris Kreider absolutely burned the Chicago defense to a 2-on-0, but didn’t generate a shot. The chance left Crawford behind the net, and Hayes flipped the puck over Crawford to Derek Stepan in front for the empty netter.

Hawks 2, Rangers 3

Not Girardi’s finest shift.

Dan Girardi committed an awful turnover to Jonathan Toews along the boards. The puck went to Marian Hossa as Teuvo Teravainen went to the front. Ryan McDonagh was hung out to dry on this, and Hossa fed Teuvo for the goal. Before the turnover, Girardi drifted way too high, to the top of the circle. It looks like he’s still struggling when switching from the overload to man coverage in the defensive zone.

Disputed save

Here’s the disputed play at the end of the third. Toews was stoned by Hank, and had the puck under him. The ref went to blow the whistle, and Kane came in and poked it through as the ref was blowing the whistle. It was ruled no goal.

Score-Adjusted Corsi Chart

With war-on-ice not functioning at the moment, I went to hockeystats.ca for this chart. Score-adjusted accounts for score effects, as teams are more likely to defend with a lead in the third period, or a big lead earlier in the game. The Rangers and Hawks were close throughout most of the game.

Shift Chart

A bit of a different shift chart, noting which players got shifts and when, also from hockeystats.ca. It’s worth noting that Dan Boyle got fewer shifts than normal in that period. These are shifts throughout the game, so PP and PK shifts count here. Guys that only play at even strength will have fewer shifts. The third line has fewer shifts because they only took even strength shifts.

As stated above, this was a solid first game for the Rangers. They jumped out early, defended their lead, and faced some adversity. It’s good to get that all out of the way early in the season. There were a lot of positives from this game. If the Rangers can play like this consistently, they will be a tough draw every night.