It was another tough night for the New York Rangers offense, as they came up short in Chicago losing 3-1 to the Blackhawks.
- New York Rangers: 1 (3-6-1, 7 points)
- Chicago Blackhawks: 4 (6-2-2, 14 points)
- NYR Goals: Pavel Buchnevich (3)
- CHI Goals: Jonathan Toews (6), Alexandre Fortin (2), Patrick Kane (9), Alex DeBrincat (8)
- NHL. Final. Boxscore.
- United Center, Chicago, Illinois.
Just when you thought the New York Rangers turned things around offensively, they put up a poor effort against one of the better teams in the league. An effort that led to a 4-1 loss to the Blackhawks.
The fact of the matter is no matter what type of players you have on your team, you have to be able to score more than one goal per game. Especially when you are getting the best of Henrik Lundqvist, giving you every chance to win. And that Lundqvist did yet again, making 33 saves in the losing effort.
But, the story is not a lack of production coming from the 36-year-old netminder. Rather it is the inability of this Ranger team to find the back of the net. The inability to put up shots on goal on a Chicago team who is not great defensively.
Down by one entering the third period, the Rangers were outshot by Chicago 14-1. What makes that even more frustrating, is that it was never even close, to begin with. Their first shot came early in the third, but after that, the offense just went dormant.
So how did we get here exactly?
It all started with a great individual effort by Nick Schmaltz who just went around the Blueshirt defense untouched and found teammate Alexandre Fortin for the 2-1 lead.
Threading the needle better than most tailors we know#CHIvsNYR #Schmaltzy #Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/GM6Ww5KME5
— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) October 26, 2018
Chicago would go on to take a 3-1 lead later in the period as Patrick Kane found the back of the net making this one feel like a 5-0 blowout when in reality, it was still just a two-goal game.
Just as the rest of this game showed, Chicago just dominated in the Rangers end outshooting New York 37-19 on the night. If not for Lundqvist, New York’s fate might have been handed to them earlier in this game.
"Overrated goaltender" pic.twitter.com/sspuQ77eiP
— Shayna (@hayyyshayyy) October 26, 2018
The Rangers will look to put this one behind them as they begin their West Coast trip in Los Angeles Sunday at 3:30 PM.
