Adam Fox has three assists as Rangers rout Chicago for 7th straight win
Rangers defenseman Jacob Trouba, back right, celebrates his goal against Chicago during the second period of an NHL game Sunday in Chicago. Credit: AP/David Banks
CHICAGO – Rangers fans certainly remember the last time their team played Chicago. It was a shocking home loss on Dec. 3 to one of the NHL’s worst squads.
The Rangers made sure nothing like that happened on Sunday night at the United Center as they scored three first-period goals in a 7-1 victory, their seventh straight since that game.
Seven Rangers scored and Adam Fox had three assists. Artemi Panarin had a goal and two assists.
Chicago has the fewest points in the NHL at 18. But Rangers coach Gerald Gallant didn’t have to be reminded that two of those points came in a stunning 5-2 victory at the Garden on Dec. 3.
Chicago hasn’t won -- or had a lead -- in seven games since.
Following the Dec. 3 loss, Chris Kreider said: “It's up to us to flip the narrative and look back on this in one month or two and say that this was a good thing for us, and that we started stringing together wins.’’
The Rangers, who won in Philadelphia on Saturday, improved to 3-4 in the second game of back-to-backs.
The Rangers took a 1-0 lead at 11:04 of the first when Fox centered to Filip Chytil, who swatted the puck past Arvid Soderblom for his eighth goal of the season.
Chytil left the ice with the trainer early in the second after a hit by Sam Lafferty. He did not return with what the Rangers called an upper-body injury and is day-to-day, according to Gallant.
Fox orchestrated again less than four minutes later when he centered to a trailing Panarin, who scored his eighth of the season on a one-timer to make it 2-0.
Kaapo Kakko made it 3-0 with less than a minute left in the period when he converted a 3-on-2 rush for his eighth goal.
Philipp Kurashev beat Igor Shesterkin (29 saves) to get Chicago on the board 1:33 into the second.
Jacob Trouba gave the Rangers their three-goal lead back with a blast off a drop pass from Mika Zibanejad at 10:28. It was Trouba’s second goal of the season.
The tally must have been special for Trouba since Chicago’s Andreas Athanasiou called him “an $8 million man with zero goals” and accused him of “almost trying to hurt people” after the Dec. 3 game.
After his goal on Sunday, Trouba yelled at Athanasiou, “Do you want the puck?”
Following the game, a smiling Trouba said: “If he wanted it, he could have it.”
Gallant thought the Trouba goal was important – and not because of the animus between the players.
“That was a big goal,” Gallant said. “They made it 3-1 and then they had two unbelievable shifts in our zone. The Trouba goal was really big for our group.”
Vincent Trocheck scored his 11th to make it 5-1 on a power-play goal with 16 seconds left in the second. Vitali Kravstov scored his second on a breakaway at 8:56 of the third.
Fourth-liner Jonny Brodzinski scored the Rangers’ seventh goal of the game, initially given to Braden Schneider. It is Brodzinski’s first of the season.
Chicago’s Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews played their 1,000th game together to become the 11th pair in NHL history to reach that mark. Kane may be on the move before the March 3 trade deadline, with the Rangers on the list of possible suitors.
Kane and Panarin, who were Chicago teammates for two seasons, shot pucks at each other before exchanging pleasantries during pregame warmups.
The Rangers have two games left before the Christmas break: Tuesday at Pittsburgh and on Thursday at the Garden against the Islanders.
Chicago’s Jarred Tinordi was hit in the face by a puck early in the second period, ending his night. Tinordi was able to immediately skate off, but the game was delayed as workers cleaned blood off the ice. On Dec. 9, Tinordi got 50-100 stitches in his chin after he was cut by a skate.
Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.
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