RECAP: Blackhawks Unable to Stop Rangers

CHICAGO -- Filip Chytil had two goals for the New York Rangers, who scored five consecutive times in a 6-2 victory against the Chicago Blackhawks at United Center on Sunday.

Vincent Trocheck, Jonny Brodzinski, Will Borgen and Reilly Smith also scored for the Rangers (18-20-1), who had lost five of six and were coming off a 7-4 loss at Washington on Saturday. Adam Fox, Ryan Lindgren and Brett Berard each had two assists.

“It was a pretty good game for us; I liked the response after we went down 1-0,” New York coach Peter Laviolette said. “You play the day before. You travel in here. You get down 1-0 early. I like the response the rest of the first period. Really good.

“It’s good to score goals. It’s confidence for guys, confidence for the team, confidence for players contributing offensively.”

Louis Domingue, in his first NHL start of the season, made 25 saves for the Rangers. It was his first NHL game since Nov. 9, 2023, when he started and won 4-1 against the Minnesota Wild.

“You guys saw the same thing I did,” Domingue said. “It was a great effort from all for lines. Every defenseman. They just kept going from the drop of the puck in the first period until the end. It made it easy on me, for sure. There’s nothing that really prepares you for it (the NHL). You can say whatever, practice how often as you can. There’s nothing like NHL games -- the pace, the execution.

“Everything is new. Even if I played 150 games in the NHL, it’s been over a year, so you always start at zero. You get a chance to prove to yourself that you belong, basically. So it’s always nice to confirm that.”

Tyler Bertuzzi and Wyatt Kaiser scored, and Connor Bedard had an assist to extend his point streak to an NHL high seven games for the Blackhawks (13-25-2), who have lost six of seven. Arvid Soderblom made 28 saves.

“We were off to a good start, and then our puck management was not good at all,” Chicago coach Anders Sorensen said. “Unacceptable. Then we get stuck in our own zone because we’re tired and we can’t get out. It’s a recipe for … nothing good comes out of that.”

Bertuzzi gave Chicago a 1-0 lead at 5:37 of the first period. Bedard got to a loose puck ahead of Mika Zibanejad near the blue line of the offensive zone. After skating to the right face-off circle, Bedard passed across to Bertuzzi, who tapped the puck in from the edge of the crease.

“I thought our start was actually not too bad, and then after the 10-minute mark, we kind of started going downhill,” Bertuzzi said. “We weren’t making simple plays and hard plays and keeping it simple and it cost us. I wish I had the answer.”

Brodzinski tied it 1-1 at 15:12, taking a pass in the slot from Fox and scoring on a wrist shot through traffic over Soderblom’s glove.

Borgen put the Rangers ahead 2-1 at 18:22 when the Blackhawks twice could not clear the zone. After the puck came out to Borgen in the high slot, he scored on a stick-side wrist shot for his first goal with New York. He was acquired in a Dec. 18 trade with the Seattle Kraken for forward Kaapo Kakko.

“There’s definitely things I have to remember when I’m on the ice, systems-wise,” Borgen said. “But for the most part, I’ve gone over it, and the guys are really good about talking on the ice, so that helps a lot.”

Chytil extended it to 3-1 at 3:28 of the second period. He took a drop pass from Fox and scored on a wrist shot from the right circle.

Smith pushed it to 4-1 at 9:54, scoring on a breakaway. Zibanejad sprung Smith with a pass, and he went five-hole on a backhand shot.

Trocheck made it 5-1 at 15:16 when Artemi Panarin’s wrist shot from the blue line fluttered toward the net and deflected in off him.

Kaiser cut it to 5-2 at 18:00 with his first NHL goal. He scored on a wrist shot from the top of the right circle after a pass from Frank Nazar.

“It's been a while,” Kaiser said. “Lots of chances, so nice for one to finally go in. There's been a lot of posts.”

Chytil scored his second goal of the game to make it 6-2 at 8:36 of the third period on a deflection of K'Andre Miller’s long shot.

NOTES: The Rangers were without forward Chris Kreider, who was a late lineup scratch. He is day to day with an upper-body injury … Fox passed Brad Park for the third-most assists (284) by a Rangers defenseman … Bedard (seven-game point streak) joined Jonathan Toews (10-game point streak in 2007-08), Eddie Olczyk (nine-, eight- and seven-game streaks in 1985-86) and Denis Savard (seven-game streak in 1980-81) as the fourth Blackhawks teenager in the past 50 years with a point streak of seven or more games.