In a highly entertaining and uptempo game with few whistles, the Rangers fell 2-1 to the Blackhawks. Antti Raanta, making his fourth straight start, was slightly outplayed by Scott Darling in the contest. Darling was the difference tonight just like Raanta was last Friday in Chicago. This match up sure would be fun to watch in the Cup Finals based on similarity of styles and skill level on each team
During warmups, Ryan McDonagh was scratched with the flu, joining Mika Zibanejad, Pavel Buchnevich, Rick Nash and Matt Puempel on the sidelines. McDonagh was replaced by Adam Clendening, who was paired with Brady Skjei while playing just his second game since November 6. Clendening played fairly well in his 11:15 of ice time, but likely will head back to the bench if McDonagh can play Thursday against Dallas. There were no material missteps, but AV has been reluctant to sit veteran defensemen, making Clendening the true odd man out.
With Clendening skating alongside Brady Skjei, Marc Staal played with Kevin Klein and Nick Holden shifted from his off side to his natural left to replace McDonagh alongside Dan Girardi. As Brooks pointed out, Holden (26:24), Klein (23:27), Staal (23:08) and Girardi (23:05) all logged season-high ice times. Part of that was due to Brady Skjei missing almost 20 minutes after getting cut in the lip/cheek by Kevin Hayes' skate in the first.
After a scoreless first, all three goals came in the second. Chicago drew first blood. Trevor van Riemsdyk took a pass between the circles from Artemi Panarin. While falling, Riemsdyk scored his first of the season at 5:18. The play was aided by a dump in attempt hitting the officials' skate, slowing down the puck, enabling Chicago to gain possession along the boards while the Rangers scrambled to get into position.
Less than three minutes later, Jesper Fast, using a waist-high swing, batted the puck out of the air near the left post and past Darling’s stick to tie the score at 8:15. The Rangers did carry play for stretches in the period, putting 16 shots in net, but Darling was up to the task on all but this one. Unfortunately, after lots of pressure by New York, a combinations of bad defensive reads allowed the tie-breaking goal.
Nick Holden took a step back as Brian Campbell carried the puck around the net. Dan Girardi stumbled a bit going to cover Artem Anisimov while Jesper Fast was also late in getting in position. All three together allowed Anisimov to get wide open in front and bury Campbell's pass with 1:09 left in the period.
In the third, Raanta made several key saves to keep it 2-1. But Darling, 3-0-1 in his last four starts subbing for Corey Crawford, who is out following an appendectomy, stopped Jimmy Vesey several times and Mats Zuccarello’s one-timer in the final minutes. New York fumbled away any chance to tie the game after putting Raanta in the last minute play, failing to gain the zone or set up any semblance of attack. That showing detracted from an overall solid performance. It's just that Chicago was a little bit better.
As Brooks noted, the top-six for New York did next to nothing. Mats Zuccarello continues to be invisible, and if there is one forward who has really missed Zib, it's Zucc, who has done little the past month plus. Brooks added that most of the Rangers’ offense was supplied by the bottom six forwards, with Jimmy Vesey, who finally was given real ice time by AV in the third, notching 8:09 of his 14:47 of ice time in the period, put seven shots on net. Vesey started the game playing on the fourth line with Brandon Pirri and Nicklas Jensen but moved up to skate with Oscar Lindberg and Fast in place of Marek Hrivik in the third.
Jensen, the leading candidate to come out of the lineup when Nash is ready, played 6:41 and got just one brief third-period shift worth 37 seconds while sitting the final 16:07. If Jensen doesn't come out, it will be Hrivik, especially since he was moved down to the fourth line during Tuesday's contest. But I would leave the Hrivik-Lindberg-Fast trio together, as that's a pretty darn good fourth line. Pirri, meanwhile, got just 9:36 of ice (3:02 in the third, as New York tried to rally), his time limited without New York getting a power-play opportunity
With the loss, Raanta is now 8-2 (with one no-decision) in 11 starts while recording a 1.57 GAA and .944 save percentage. The defeat Tuesday had nothing to do with how Raanta played, as he was brilliant again. So if you wanted to use the argument a player shouldn't lose his spot off a solid performance, I wouldn't argue. But with the loss, AV can now easily turn back to Henrik Lundqvist - a move that was to happen sooner rather than later - and give him a chance to show that the off ice work he has been doing has helped and he is ready to show once again he is an elite goalie.