Rangers score six goals in win over Chicago as Filip Chytil nets pair
CHICAGO — No one is going to be terribly impressed by a win over the last-place team in the NHL. But the Rangers are in no position to apologize for defeating anybody, especially a team that beat them at Madison Square Garden on Dec. 9.
So they will happily accept Sunday afternoon’s 6-2 win over lowly Chicago at the United Center, especially given that this was the Rangers’ seventh victory in the last 22 games.
It was achieved without Chris Kreider, who sat out with what the Rangers said was an upper-body injury — he missed three games with back spasms last month — and it came with third-string goalie Louis Domingue between the pipes. Igor Shesterkin is on injured reserve and Jonathan Quick had played in Saturday’s loss to Washington.
Domingue, called up Wednesday from AHL Hartford, made 25 saves to earn his second win for the Rangers in two seasons.
“There’s nothing that really prepares you for it,’’ he said of coming up from the minor leagues to play in an NHL game. “There’s nothing like NHL games; the pace, the execution. Everything is like — it’s always new. And even if I played [143] games in the NHL, it’s been over a year. So you always start at zero and you get a chance to prove to yourself that you belong, basically. So it’s always nice to confirm that.’’
“He played really well,’’ coach Peter Laviolette said. “His puck skills are incredible back there. Handling the puck and making plays, it helps with breaking things out [of the defensive zone].’’
Filip Chytil had two goals — giving him four in the last four games — and Adam Fox, Ryan Lindgren and Brett Berard each had two assists for the Rangers (18-20-1).
After Chicago’s Tyler Bertuzzi opened the scoring at 5:37, Jonny Brodzinski, inserted in the lineup in Kreider’s place, tied it at 15:12 of the first period.
“I thought he came in and played a really good game,’’ Laviolette said. “I thought everybody was pretty consistent through the lineup, but it was nice to see him jumping in and contributing like that as well.’’
Once Brodzinski scored, the Rangers suddenly looked more assertive and started to dominate possession against the hapless hosts, who fell to 13-25-2.
Three minutes and 10 seconds after Brodzinski’s goal, defenseman Will Borgen, acquired in the Kaapo Kakko trade on Dec. 18, scored his first goal as a Ranger.
“I don’t ever expect to score,’’ he said. “I just kind of got a lucky one that popped out there.’’
It was almost all Rangers after that. Chytil’s first goal, at 3:28 of the second period, made it 3-1 and Mika Zibanejad set up Reilly Smith for a breakaway goal to make it 4-1 at 9:54. The assist was the 400th of his career for Zibanejad, who has been suffering through a miserable season, and gave him a three-game scoring streak.
Vincent Trocheck tipped in a shot by Artemi Panarin at 15:16 to make it 5-1, but Chicago defenseman Wyatt Kaiser beat Domingue over his glove hand at 18:00 of the second period to record his first NHL goal and pull Chicago within 5-2.
Chytil’s second goal of the game — a pinball shot by K’Andre Miller that was saved by Chicago goalie Arvid Soderblom but bounced off him, ricocheted off Chytil and went in at 8:36 of the third period — made it 6-2.
Domingue’s most spectacular play came in the third period when Chicago’s Taylor Hall sent a puck to the middle that deflected off teammate T.J. Brodie. Domingue threw his stick at the puck and it made contact, enough to knock the puck out of harm’s way.
“The puck changed direction at the very last second, and I just reacted and threw my stick,’’ Domingue said. “Luckily, the referee didn’t give me [a penalty] on that . . . It’s an extension of my arm, and then I just desperately — often I let go of my stick, just to get a little extra reach. And it just found my stick, which is kind of funny.’’
Notes & quotes: Fox became the first defenseman in Rangers history to begin his career with six consecutive 30-point seasons . . . Berard had the first multi-point game of his career . . . Alexis Lafreniere got a secondary assist on Trocheck’s goal, giving him his first point in nine games . . . Will Cuylle had a game-high nine hits.