NEWSLETTER
Marc-André Fleury’s 500th victory celebration will have to wait for at least one more game after old friend Artemi Panarin and the New York Rangers came into town and spoiled Fleury’s chances at clinching the monumental victory on home ice.
Here is Artemi Panarin trying to hit old friend Patrick Kane with a puck at the end of warmups.
Patrick Kane and Artemi Panarin trying to hit each other with pucks again at the end of warmups. #Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/PdiW0Q0UqJ
— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) December 8, 2021
Here is Artemi Panarin hitting new friend Jacob Trouba with a pass, and just 61 seconds into the game, it was 1-0 Rangers thanks to the nifty skating and passing of Artemi Panarin. The assist for Panarin was his 500th career point, so congratulations to the Breadman. Also, way to rub it in, Rangers!
https://twitter.com/NYRangers/status/1468396938097790978?s=20
Just 33 seconds later, the Blackhawks answered with the snipe job from the point by Erik Gustafsson off the Dominik Kubalik faceoff win at the 1:44 mark in the opening period. Less than six minutes later, the Blackhawks capitalized on another faceoff win in their offensive zone. This time, Kirby Dach found the back of the net to give the Blackhawks an early 2-1 lead over New York. The goal was Dach’s fourth of the season. Alex DeBrincat and Dylan Strome picked up assists on the score.
https://twitter.com/NBCSBlackhawks/status/1468399511588548612?s=20
New York scoring that early goal would have been a death sentence for the Blackhawks earlier this season. They answered with two quick goals tonight and took the lead into the locker room at the end of period one against an excellent Rangers team.
Remember that opening sequence when Artemi Panarin set up Jacob Trouba for the earlier goal? Well, the Breadman wasn’t done hurting his old team on Tuesday night as he delivered the equalizer 3:19 into the second period on the power play after a Henrik Borgström penalty put the Rangers on the man-advantage early in the middle frame.
https://twitter.com/NYRangers/status/1468410641220317186?s=20
In the second period, a scary moment came when Blackhawks forward Jujhar Khaira was on the receiving end of a monster hit from Jacob Trouba. Trouba delivered the hit to the neck/face area on Khaira, who never saw it coming. Khaira lay motionless on the ice for several minutes while medical personnel tended to him and eventually took him off the ice on a stretcher. Khaira will presumably be transported to a local hospital for further medical attention.
#Blackhawks and Rangers taking a knee as Jujhar Khaira is attended to. Scary scene in Chicago. pic.twitter.com/FUH7NpLmX2
— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) December 8, 2021
The Rangers would take the lead five minutes into the third on a Chris Kreider power-play goal, his 10th of the season giving the Rangers a 3-2 lead that they would not relinquish. Artemi Panarin, who scored four points on the night (2G, 2A), picked up an apple on the Kreider goal and delivered an empty-netter in the waning minutes of this one.
The Rangers lit the lamp four times in the third period as they topped the Blackhawks 6-2 on Tuesday night. The Blackhawks did an excellent job of staying neck-and-neck with a fantastic New York team for much of the night, but the cream rose to the top late in this one, and the Rangers picked up their 17th win of the season and their second against the Blackhawks in four days. Artemi Panarin has seven points in those two games against his old team, and that one still hurts.
Thankfully, we won’t have to see Panarin or the Rangers again this season.
You can find the full box score here!
