NY Rangers lines tonight will have Jimmy Vesey on the top line

Mats Zuccarello scored again, giving him eight points in six games, as the Rangers topped the Hawks (in regulation). Zuccarello’s 8th of the season game the Rangers the lead late in the first, a lead they would not relinquish. Filip Chytil scored a highlight reel goal to get the Rangers on the board just four minutes prior. Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad capped the scoring.

Tony DeAngelo and Marc Staal had strong games on the blue line. However at even strength, the fourth line of Pavel Buchnevich, Cody McLeod, and Brett Howden had a rough go of it and barely played. Buchnevich played 10:12, Howden 6:40, and McLeod 4:37. At some point, Buchnevich and Howden need to be freed of McLeod.

Hawks 1, Rangers 0

The Hawks have a good powerplay. The initial deflection by Artem Anisimov went off the post, right to Brandon Saad who had an empty net.

Rangers 1, Hawks 1

Filip Chytil is a bust, right?

Rangers 2, Hawks 1

Zibanejad gained the zone, and eventually the puck wound up on Staal’s stick for the shot from the point. Kreider made the deflection in front, because of course he did, and Zuccarello was there for the rebound.

Rangers 3, Hawks 1

Zuccarello made a nice play to intercept the cross ice pass and start the rush. Brent Seabrook broke up the play, then lost the puck right in the slot. Kreider was there to bang it home.

Rangers 3, Hawks 2

Another powerplay goal for the Hawks. Henrik Lundqvist was screened in front by Dylan Strome on the pass to Alex DeBrincat, which is why he was slow to get over. DeBrincat’s shot was back over Hank’s glove, going against the grain of the moving Lundqvist. Great shot.

Rangers 4, Hawks 2

Mika Zibanejad empty netter.

Rangers 4, Hawks 3

This goal beat the buzzer, and was just a great rip by Dominik Kahun on a good drop pass by David Kampf. Lundqvist was late to react with multiple bodies in front of the shooter.

Shot Heatmap

Well looky here. The Rangers did a good job defending the front of the net. It could just be because Chicago is bad, but the Rangers have let bad teams walk through the slot all year. This is a welcomed change.

The Rangers have one more game on Saturday before nine days off for their bye week and the All Star break. After that, the fun begins with the trade deadline. Enjoy some of your favorites while you can, folks.

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