A night of firsts for Rangers rookies in 6-1 win over Blackhawks: takeaways
It was a night of firsts for the kids wearing blue Friday night at Madison Square Garden, when the New York Rangers overwhelmed the Chicago Blackhawks 6-1.
Adam Sykora scored his first NHL goal; Drew Fortescue picked up his first point in his NHL debut; and goalie Dylan Garand earned his first NHL victory to help the Rangers (29-35-9) end a six-game skid (0-5-1).
Another rookie, defenseman Matthew Robertson, also scored for New York, and veteran captain J.T. Miller contributed a goal and two assists. Jonny Brodzinski scored twice and 14 skaters recorded at least one point to support Garand, who made 28 saves in his second impressive start since he was recalled from Hartford of the American Hockey League last week.
Garand stopped 35 of 37 shots in a 3-2 shootout loss to the Winnipeg Jets on Sunday.
After the Rangers surrendered the first goal of the game late in the opening period, they quickly tied things up less than a minute later and pulled away in a dominant second period.
Chicago broke through at 17:34 of the first on a goal by Nick Lardis, off a broken play and an assist by Tyler Bertuzzi. But the Rangers pulled even at 18:32, when the third line buzzed the Blackhawks net, and Conor’s Sheary’s centering pass hit the skate of Miller, who was jostling for position above the blue paint, and into the net.
Though Sheary originally was credited with the goal, it was rightfully awarded to Miller later on, his 15th of the season.
New York out-shot Chicago 15-11 in the first period, but that told only part of the story. The Rangers held a 70.26 percent expected goal share, per Natural Stat Trick. And things only got better in the second period, when the Rangers tilted the ice, had a 16-4 shots advantage, and 91.63 percent xGF 5v5.
They also scored three times, with the kids playing a big part in each goal.
The fun started at 5:24, when Robertson scored the fifth goal, snapping a shot over the left shoulder of Blackhawks goalie Arvid Soderblom after some strong work down low by Miller.
Then there were smiles all around three minutes later when Sykora buried a Will Cuylle pass off a 2-on-1 rush for his first NHL goal. Even coach Mike Sullivan had to smile behind the Rangers bench when he saw the pure joy explode from the buoyant 21-year-old forward, who received long from veterans Vincent Trocheck and Mika Zibanejad, who know a thing or two about scoring goals in this league.
When the Rangers scored again at 16:07 to take a 4-1 lead, it was another rookie, fourth-line forward Jaroslav Chmelar, who helped make it happen with strong work around the Chicago net and getting the puck back to Will Borgen, before the defenseman set up Brodzinski for the left-wing one-timer past Soderblom.
Though Chicago had a push in the third period, Garand calmly made save after save before Alexis Lafreniere’s power-play deflection put this game away at 13:17.
But the Rangers weren’t done scoring, nor with their career firsts on this night. Fortescue fed Taylor Raddysh, who dished to Brodzinski, and the veteran hammered home his sixth of the season at the 16-minute mark of the third period. The secondary assist was Fortescue’s first point in the NHL, and a fitting exclamation point on this special night at The Garden.
Key takeaways after Rangers throttle Blackhawks 6-1
The 3 Stars
The First Star in this game was Garand, who’s 23 years old. The Second Star? That was Sykora, the 21-year-old who blew kisses to the crowd when announced as such after the rousing win. And the Third Star was the 20-year-old Fortescue, who just last week was playing defense for Boston College.
There’s no way you couldn’t help but love those Three Stars of the Game selections if you’re a Rangers fan, who’s spent the better part of two seasons being beaten down by loss after loss, and one disappointment after another.
Everybody loves the kids. Especially when they come through and show such promise. And let’s not forget Gabe Perreault (20), Chmelar (22), Robertson (25), and even Noah Laba (22), who didn’t play due to injury but remains New York’s most successful rookie this season.
We’ll see down the road how it plays out with each of these youngsters. But for this one night, well, it’s impossible not to acknowledge that they put the energy back into the old barn on 7th and 33rd.
By the numbers
With the win, the Rangers reached double-digit victories on home ice this season. They hadn’t won fewer than 10 games at MSG since the 1964-65 season. Incredibly, in a season where they’ve struggled to score so mightily, this was the 10th time that the Rangers scored at least six goals in a game. Their season high is seven goals, accomplished twice.
Each Rangers skater recorded at least one shot on goal, except Trocheck. But the veteran center made up for it by winning 18 of 26 face-offs (69 percent). Speaking of face-offs, the Rangers won 60 percent in the game, including 11 of 15 by Miller (73 percent).
Miller also led the Rangers with five shots on goal; Chmelar was second with four. Fortescue, who hit the post with a shot attempt in the first period, recorded one official shot on goal, had two hits, and logged 17:04 TOI in his NHL debut, including time spent on both the power play and penalty kill.
Brodzinski has five goals in his past six games against the Blackhawks. Since Jan. 31, Lafreniere has 12 goals and 22 points in 18 games.
Garand was selected the First Star in each of his first two NHL games.
Did Chicago win by losing?
The only sobering note for the home team Friday is that its opponent, the Blackhawks, just may have won more by losing this game than if they actually, you know, earned the victory.
The Rangers and Blackhawks each have 67 points with nine games left to play. Since, the Blackhawks have fewer wins (27) than the Rangers (29), they have better odds to win the NHL Draft Lottery and the chance to select first overall. Per Tankathon, the Blackhawks have a 13.5 percent chance to win the lottery and land to the No. 1 overall selection. The Rangers dropped to 11.5 percent chance to snag the first pick.
The Vancouver Canucks (21-42-8) own the worst record by far in the League, and have a 25 percent chance to win the draft lottery.
