AP Photo/Julie Jacobson
Call it Winter Classic hangover. Call it just another no show. But the Rangers dropped an ugly and winnable one to Chicago last night by a score of 5-2. Don’t let the score fool you, this was not as close as the 3-2 score (two empty netters for Chicago) would make you think. The Rangers played an ugly game. They didn’t create on offense and didn’t care on defense. The reason why this was close was again, Henrik Lundqvist.
Jeff “Not Tanner” Glass wasn’t really tested much as he won his second NHL game in 13 pro seasons. He only faced four even strength (six total) shots in the first, and then another two at evens (eight total) in the second. That’s right folks, the Rangers put up a total of 14 shots, 6 at even strength, in the first two periods. They woke up in the third. Sorta.
On to the goals:
Hawks 1, Rangers 0
https://twitter.com/hayyyshayyy/status/948731172355493888
This was a hard one to analyze, since it’s not really a huge break down. Jordan Oesterle’s initial shot goes wide. Kevin Shattenkirk lost a step on Toews, who got to the carom off the boards as Vinnie Hinostroza got one step on Marc Staal. Toews and Hinostroza had perfect timing, and was really a bang-bang play. I’m not going to sit here and criticize Staal or Shatty on this one. It’s a hockey play, it happens.
Rangers 1, Hawks 1
https://twitter.com/hayyyshayyy/status/948731828982214656
This was just a very nicely placed shot by Nick Holden. He used the defender as the screen. Glass never saw it.
Hawks 2, Rangers 1
https://twitter.com/hayyyshayyy/status/948740614149017606
Nick Schmaltz got a step on Brady Skjei, and turned on the jets for the partial break. Skjei spun around as Schmaltz slid it under Hank, but not in. Staal slid on the back check while getting cross checked and knocked the puck into his own net. A lot of people were calling for a penalty on Ryan Hartman on this one.
Rangers 2, Hawks 2
https://twitter.com/hayyyshayyy/status/948742427363500032
When in doubt, feed the puck to Mika Zibanejad on the powerplay. Good passing by Mats Zuccarello and Pavel Buchnevich as well.
Hawks 3, Rangers 2
https://twitter.com/hayyyshayyy/status/948752476588724224
What I don’t like on this play is the initial pressure by Brendan Smith on Alex Debrincat by the red line. It left a passing lane open to David Kampf. Kampf took the pass and promptly got the puck over to the better player in Patrick Sharp. Boo Nieves came back to cut off the pass back to Kampf, but there was already enough room for Sharp to tee up the shot over Hank’s glove, picking the corner.
Hawks 4, Rangers 2
Jonathan Toews empty netter.
Hawks 5, Rangers 2
Patrick Kane empty netter.
Score Adjusted Corsi (even strength)
This is just plain old ugly. The Hawks controlled the game from the start.
Scoring Chances (all strengths)
Woof.
Since this game stunk, here’s a reason to smile:
https://twitter.com/BlueSeatBlogs/status/808847411766554624
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