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Knee Deep in the Ocean of Hate: Rangers 6, Blackhawks 1

A random walk down Wall Street.

Posted on by Steve Kwiatkowski
Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images

The Chicago Blackhawks dropped their second game in a row to the New York Rangers on Friday night, a 6-1 loss that gave the Rangers jus their 10th win at home, 73 games into their season.

With 2:26 remaining in the first period, Nick Lardis opened up scoring after some solid offensive work from the second line and the first D-pair, giving the Hawks a 1-0 lead.

With 1:28 left in the first, some poor defensive zone coverage led to J.T. Miller tying the game at 1-1. While the Hawks play a man-on-man, every Blackhawk on this play could have played their assignment harder.

At 5:24 of the second period, Matthew Robertson scored to give New York the lead at 2-1. Some soft defending from the Hawks here.

Adam Sykora scored his first NHL goal 8:20 into the second period following a poor neutral zone play from Ethan Del Mastro. His pinch was made with no support, as he failed to get the puck and allowed Will Cuylle to skate past him, making it 3-1, Rangers.

Jonny Brodzinski put the Rangers up 4-1 with 3:53 remaining in the second period. Granted, Teuvo Teravainen was clearly tripped in the slot, which opened the passing lane to Brodzinski.

Alexis Lafreniere tipped in a shot from Adam Fox on the power play 13:17 into the third to give the Rangers a 5-1 lead.

With four minutes remaining in the game, Brodzinski scored his final goal following an Andre Burakovsky-induced turnover, making it 6-1 for New York.

Notes

There’s not a lot to be said other than this was a poor effort. However, some discourse in the game thread got me thinking so, tonight, let’s talk about losing.

The Blackhawks have been outscored 17-8 in their last four games. Of the teams they lost to, one is barely in a wild card spot (the Nashville Predators), another wishes to be in one (the Philadelphia Flyers), and another is a team that is struggling to hold onto a wild card spot (the New York Islanders). Tonight, the Rangers were heading into game 73 with only having won nine home games and sitting 31st in the standings. But soft defending and the inability to generate offense (a 29.32 percent expected goals share at 5-on-5 for the Hawks) gave what some fans are calling a “tank win.”

Young players make mistakes, and it’s okay to point those out. Ethan Del Mastro shouldn’t have pinched in the neutral zone with support, or if he’s going to be aggressive, he better make sure he gets the puck. Certain mistakes come with the territory of playing with a little spice. We’ve seen it with Artyom Levshunov. But some mistakes are problematic of something bigger. The Hawks had 20 giveaways on Friday night. Frondell (who is only on game three) made a careless giveaway towards the end of the game when the Hawks were tuned out — a breakout pass that went right to the Rangers’ stick. Levshunov hesitated in the first period, taking a second to digest if he should dump the puck or pass to Alex Valsic instead — this led to a turnover.

Thursday night’s game was riddled with turnovers that led to a 5-2 loss to the Flyers. And as Betsy pointed out in that recap, this is a young team, and those nights are going to happen, especially when you add in two new young players (Frondell and Sacha Boisvert) who have a combined five NHL games. But those sure sound like excuses, don’t they? Where’s the line? To me, these losses have shown some holes in the coaching staff. The offensive zone forecheck has been nonexistent (flowers to Frondell will be given in a moment), and the defensive zone turnovers have been costly. When the Hawks have a lead, they turn to passive hockey to hold on to something and end up conceding a ridiculous amount of shots. The Hawks have given up 137 shots on goal during 5-on-5 play in the last four games.

I guess what I’m trying to say is: I’m tired, man. This wasn’t a good effort, and I’m tired of watching this and being told to be okay with it. Too often I see fellow equally tired fans try to voice their withered frustrations only to be met with lessons on patience and the virtues of a rebuild. If you’re a Chicago sports fan, you know what a rebuild is. It’s okay to be frustrated at this. It’s okay to not want the No. 1 overall draft pick — we have Bedard — something that’s not even guaranteed by beating a fellow basement-dwelling team, by the way.

Losing is for the birds.

Now, I’m sure this will get some hot and bothered, and that’s okay. Different opinions lead to interesting discussions and hopefully growth (there’s your nugget of wisdom).

And on the topic of growth, here’s a sweet play from Anton Frondell in the first period.

And another look from that opening shift.

Yes, brighter days are on the horizon. But … man, this Kool-Aid is starting to taste a little funny.

Game Charts

#NHL Game Score Impact Card for Chicago Blackhawks on 2026-03-27: #Blackhawks

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— HockeyStatCards (@hockeystatcards.com) March 27, 2026 at 6:47 PM

Three Stars

  1. Dylan Garand (NYR) — .964 save percentage
  2. Adam Sykora (NYR) — 1 goal
  3. Drew Fortescue (NYR) — 1 assist

What’s Next

The Blackhawks wrap up their road trip on Sunday against the New Jersey Devils at 6 p.m.

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