Recap: Rangers embarrass Blackhawks 6-1

New York Rangers goaltender Dylan Garand stopped 27 Chicago Blackhawks shots on his way to his first NHL win, defeating the Blackhawks 6-1 at Madison Square Garden. Chicago was led by forward Nick Lardis, who scored eighth goal of the season.

Lardis gave the Blackhawks (27-33-13) the early lead at the 17:34 mark of the first period. Defenseman Alex Vlasic made a nice play and found forward Tyler Bertuzzi at the side of the net, who shoveled a pass over to Lardis, who beat Garand for the only exciting play for the Blackhawks all night.

J.T. Miller would tie the game at the 18:32 mark beating Chicago goaltender Arvid Soderblom to tie the score at 1-1.

In the second period, Matthew Robertson gave the Rangers a 2-1 lead beating Soderblom over his shoulder off a rebound from a Miller shot. New York would score two more times before the middle period ended when Adam Sykora scored the first NHL goal of his career at the 8:20 mark and Jonny Brodzinksi extended the Rangers’ lead to 4-1 at the 16:07 mark.

After being outshot 31-15 in the first two periods, Chicago did not muster much sustained pressure besides almost doubling their shot total with 13 shots on goal in the third period. New York would find the back of the net on the power paly when Alexis Lafreniere scored at the 13:17 mark and Brodzinski would score his second of the game, and sixth of the season, to finish off the Blackhawks 6-1.

Analysis

Chicago played like a bottom team in the NHL most of the night and fans found out very quickly that this has always been a bottom-five defense in the league.

Tee times are close for this young team that has fizzled as of late, having lost six of their last eight games.

Sacha Boisvert got into his first tussle in the NHL with Will Borgen. It was great to see the young kid step up and try and show his worth to the organization, but this team is far from having the “fight” it needs.