Milestone night for Lundqvist as Rangers defeat Blackhawks

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The Rangers have taken head coach David Quinn’s strong words to heart as they followed up Tuesday night’s win over the Hurricanes with a 4-3 victory over Jeremy Colliton’s squad.

Filip Chytil – The Czech neophyte had himself a real nice game for the Blueshirts, netting a coast-to-coast goal that tied the game at one in the first period. Chytil would finish the game with four shots as he continues to showcase the offensive skills that convinced the Rangers to draft him in the summer of 2017.

Mats Zuccarello – All things considered, this was one of the easiest goals Zuccarello has scored in his career. Marc Staal one-timed the pass from Mika Zibanejad toward the Chicago net. The shot was deflected by Chris Kreider and saved by Colin Delia. Fortunately for Zuccarello, the puck squeezed through Delia and was laying on the goal line until the Norwegian forward sent the puck to it’s home.

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As has been discussed many times this season, Zuccarello is likely in the final days of his career with the Broadway Blueshirts. And if he can continue to generate offense like he has over these last four games, his departure will allow the Rangers to rebuild even quicker.

Chris Kreider – Rangers fans have been waiting for years to see Chris Kreider play to his full potential, and under new head coach David Quinn, The Garden Faithful are seeing just that. Kreider is in the midst of the best offensive season of his career, and he added to that in this one by scoring his 22nd goal of the campaign. After Mats Zuccarello forced a turnover and skated up the ice with Brady Skjei, the Norwegian’s pass was broken up. However, Kreider was following the play and was able to backhand the loose puck behind Colin Delia to give the Rangers a two-goal lead heading into the third period.

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With all of the roster changes the Rangers have seen over the last year or so, Chris Kreider has been thrust into the role of a veteran leader and mentor to the youngsters around him. There have been calls for Jeff Gorton to move Kreider at the deadline as well. However, in this writer’s humble opinion, that would be detrimental for the Rangers. Would a trade involving Kreider bring back a lot of young assets? Probably, but it would come at the cost of losing one of the better power-forwards in the NHL.

Mika Zibanejad – Had it not been for his ENG with 18 seconds to go in regulation, the Rangers and Blackhawks would’ve headed to overtime. With Chicago searching for the equalizer, Zibanejad fired the puck from the red-line and into the yawning cage. Things got interesting when Dominic Kahun scores with less than two seconds to go in regulation, but Zibanejad’s fifteenth of the season would end up being the game winner.

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Henrik Lundqvist – King Henrik continued to cement his place in NHL history as he won his 445th NHL game, putting him tied for sixth place with Terry Sawchuk on the all-time wins list. Lundqvist made a couple of dazzling saves in this one, including this stop on Jonathan Toews in the third period.

Next Game: The Rangers will try and head into their bye week on a winning streak as they head to Boston to face the Bruins on Saturday night. Puck drops at 7!

LETS GO RANGERS!!

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