CHICAGO (IL) – The New York Rangers win streak came to an end after six games Wednesday night as they were taken down by the Chicago Blackhawks 6-3.
Going into the third period the fans were treated to a goalie battle, resulting in a 1-1 score at the end of two. The third period would provide seven total goals, with the first three coming all from the Blackhawks within the first five and a half minutes.
After the Rangers took a 1-0 lead off the stick of Mika Zibanejad the game was defined by the stellar play of goaltenders Henrik Lundqvist and Corey Crawford. Chicago finally got on the board with less than a minute to go in the second period when Alex DeBrincat threw an innocent shot on net from the top of the left circle that would be initially stopped by Lundqvist, but after some delay, managed to trickle pass the goal line.
That goal would provide to be the turning point, as Lundqvist couldn’t regain his form to start the third period.
Artem Anisimov and John Hayden would both find the net for Chicago in the first two minutes of the period to give the Hawks a late 3-1 lead.
After Anisimov got his second of the game to take a late 4-1 lead, Lundqvist was replaced by backup net minder Ondrej Pavelec.
The change gave the Rangers some life, as Kevin Hayes and Rick Nash battled back to score for New York to get the team within one.
With the score 4-3 and the Rangers gaining more momentum, forward J.T Miller found a streaking David Desharnais deep in the Blackhawks zone, who carried the puck around the net and tried to stuff a wrap-around on Crawford. He was denied at the goal line and the Blackhawks didn’t look back the rest of the way.
Anisimov recorded his third of the game, his first career hat trick, with 3:48 left in the game. Jonathan Toews would later add an empty net goal.
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