Blackhawks Recaps

Artem Anisimov’s hat trick powers Blackhawks to 6-3 win over Rangers

Chicago snapped New York’s six-game win streak.

Artem Anisimov scored his first career NHL hat trick in the third period against his former team to lead the Chicago Blackhawks to a 6-3 win over the New York Rangers on Wednesday night at United Center.

Anisimov, who also had an assist, played for the Rangers from 2008-12. The Hawks snapped New York’s six-game win streak — the longest win streak in the league this season.

Nick Schmaltz assisted on all three of Anisimov’s goals. Chicago rookies Alex DeBrincat and John Hayden also scored, and Jonathan Toews added an empty-netter. Cody Franson and Duncan Keith each had two assists, while Corey Crawford made 25 saves.

Mika Zibanejad, Kevin Hayes and Rick Nash scored for New York.

Chris Kreider shook off a hit from Tommy Wingels then sent a pass from below the goal line over Jan Rutta’s stick to Zibanejad for a 1-0 lead.

The Rangers nearly doubled their lead with less than three minutes to play in the first period, but Jimmy Vesey fumbled a pass in front of the net and wasn’t able to get a clean shot off.

Less than five minutes into the second period, Patrick Kane looked like he would level the score but his backhander hit the crossbar. The Hawks peppered New York goaltender Henrik Lundqvist with a season-high 25 shots in one period in the second frame.

And one slipped through.

DeBrincat worked his way through the neutral zone with less than a minute in the second period and fired a shot past New York goaltender Henrik Lundqvist to tie the game. His shot was initially stopped, but trickled through Lundqvist’s pads and rolled into the net.

It was the first of four goals for Chicago before Hayes’ tally. Anisimov and Hayden scored 46 seconds apart for a 3-1 lead. The Russian forward scored his second goal of the night on the power play in similar fashion by rushing to the net to chase Lundqvist, who had 30 saves, from the game.

After Lundqvist was pulled for Ondrej Pavelec, New York had a new sense of urgency and scored twice. But Anisimov completed his hat trick and Toews added an empty-netter for the final margin.

Ryan Hartman returned to Chicago’s lineup after he was a healthy scratch in Sunday’s 7-5 loss to New Jersey. Hartman has one goal in his last 11 games this season.

Brent Seabrook’s defensive woes continued to limit his playing time and it showed in coach Joel Quenneville’s trust in putting him in the game. Seabrook’s 16 minutes, 26 seconds of ice time ranked last among Chicago’s defenseman. He had four shots on net and two blocked shots in that span. Connor Murphy and Franson had a team-high three blocks.

The Hawks have two days before visiting the two-time reigning Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins. Chicago blitzed Pittsburgh 10-1 in the team’s home opener in October.

NYR GOALS: Zibanejad, Hayes, Nash
CHI GOALS: DeBrincat, Anisimov (x3), Hayden, Toews

3 thoughts

DeBrincat finding the net

The 19-year-old’s goal marked his fourth goal in his last three games. He’s turned the corner this month by scoring six of his seven goals this season in November. His six goals lead the Hawks this month. Anisimov (6) and Toews (2) are the only other Hawks player to have scored more than one goal since Halloween.

Get to the front

If you were to play a bingo game of hockey sayings during a television broadcast “getting to the front of net” might as well be a free space. Anisimov proved the saying is true by scoring all three of his goals close to the goalmouth.

Another power play goal

One of Anisimov’s three goals came on the power play. The goal marked the third tally on the man advantage in the past two games. Maybe this unit is starting to turnaround. Maybe.