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Rangers get goals from seven diff. scorers to 7th straight victory in 7-1 |
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Sevens were running wild for the Rangers on Sunday. New York's win over Chicago was the team's seventh straight. In the victory, the Blueshirts lit the lamp - maybe the Chanukah menorah - seven times with the goals coming from seven different scorers. In addition, Seven players had multi-point games, led by Adam Fox and Artemi Panarin with three each. While all this was the good news, out of the contest came concern over Filip Chytil, who left the game after a high and late hit from Sam Lafferty. New York is off today and faces the Penguins on Tuesday at MSG.
Game recap:
Forwards:
Panarin - Zibanejad - Goodrow
Lafreniere - Chytil - Kakko
Kreider - Trocheck - Vesey
Kravtsov - Brodzinski - Blais
Defense:
Lindgren - Fox
Miller - Trouba
Harpur - Schneider
Shesterkin
Halak
A few thoughts:
1) Game flow: New York came out flat the first 10 minutes, which was somewhat expected after flying in from Philly early in the morning. The team found their legs midway through the period, displaying their skill, aided by the Kid Line, which is a name that likely needs a revamp. Chyil scored the first goal of the game, then contributed an assist on the final tally of the frame, scored by Kaako Kappo. The Kakko tally came off a beautiful three-way passing play with Kaako widening in the offensive zone to create the perfect angle for the pass and shot. New York's second goal was set up on a beautiful dish by Fox who somehow saw or sensed the trailing Artemi Panarin and hit him with the pass.
I actually thought the Rangers had a brutal second period. They outscored Chicago 2-1 on the scoreboard but were outplayed by a similar or greater margin. Fortunately, Igor Shersterkin was up to the task and the Blackhawks are not a great offensive squad. The physical quotient was upped. partially due to the hit on Chytil and also the game taking on a very chippy tone. Jacob Trouba scored for the second straight game and responded to Andrea Athenasiou, who was not enamored with the check Trouba laid on him when the teams last met, asking him if he wanted the puck.
New York was solid in the limit, as the game did not end up as chippy as I thought it might. Vitali Kravtsov scored on a snap shot following a dish from Panarin while Jonny Brodzinski, solid again, notched his first of the season. The only two Rangers who have yet to score this season are Ryan Lindgren, who originally was credited with Brodzinski's goal, and Sammy Blais, who some have taken to task for not going after Lafferty, I get the argument, though I am not one to advocate vigilante justice. A little "love tap" at a minimum might have the right course of action, though the view may have been take the win and avoid any further possible injuries.
2) Chytil - I have watched the hit several times. To me, it;'s late and high. Maybe you could argue he should be watching the play, but he is 10-15 feet from the action, already released the puck and the goalie was making the save. Unsure how engaged he needed to be, but his history of injuries and concussion make us all concerned. If you want to say payback is a you know what for the hits Trouba delivers, normally they come in the middle of the ice - not near the boards - and not far after the play has moved away. But if your belief karma is a B, then there you go.
Recent injury history: at the end of October, Chytil took an elbow to the head from behind from Cole Sillinger. He missed the next six games as a result. Earlier this month, Chytil sat out of two games with a minor lower-body injury, too. This on top of past injuries, but he looked to have put that behind him late last year, only to fall prey again to those again. Hopefully, it is not a concussion and just whiplash - which can cause a concussion, especially if you have a history - or. agtrue upper body injury due to contact with the ice, bottom of the boards.
3). Elite players making elite plays - Fox just has the ability to slow down play and may action come at his pace. He is almost always in the right place at the right time and finds a way to make the correct read. Panarin has his groove back. Moved between lines due to PP time, Panarin was jumping all game. Plus, it didn't hurt that he was playing in front of Patrick Kane in Chicago. The power play was better as the unit didn't just rely on the Zibanejad one-timer. The Vincent Trocheck goal was on a set play with Fox passing/shooting for the deflection.
4) Balanced scoring, as noted above, was a plus. The ability, impacted by score and opponent and decline in special teams time on ice, to roll four lines has not gone unnoticed. Losing Chytil for any period of time would adversely impact this. To beat the better teams, having that capacity certainly is a major benefit and reduces the wear and tear on the stars.
New York Rangers Blogger • 
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