The Rangers increased their lead to 3-1 when Stepan punched in a goal with 59 seconds remaining in the first period.
Advertisement
Patrick Kane and the Chicago Blackhawks began the 2015-16 season Wednesday night with a 3-2 loss to the New York Rangers.
The National Hockey League season is finally underway, and there are no shortage of storylines to keep an eye on.
“I feel pretty confident”, forward Marian Hossa said.
Hanifin set for debut • Back when he was coaching a bunch of 18-year-old defensemen in junior hockey, Bill Peters never would have entertained the thought of throwing one into the NHL, even the most supremely talented. “We were able to hang on and win a road game”. While the party lasted for much of the summer, the final bill was significant.
The offseason turnover was reminiscent of the aftermath of Chicago’s 2010 championship, and the Blackhawks lost in the first round of the playoffs in each of the next two years.
Dan Girardi’s failed clear and turnover gave Jonathan Toews plenty of time to work with and he fed it to a wide open Teravainen off to the left side of the net.
The Chicago Blackhawks start their Stanley Cup title defense on Wednesday. “I think they were reading plays really well”. “To try to kill the atmosphere a little bit like that was huge for us”. Hawks coach Joel Quenneville shortened his bench in the third, going with 10 forwards, and steady forechecking continued. He was on pace for just 21/22 goals if he played like that for a full season, which pales in comparison to his 42 regular season goals.
“Looked like he had the puck all night”, Quenneville said. “We played sloppy with the puck and we were not connecting the dots”. The coaching swap with Vancouver that saw Alain Vigneault take over seems to have worked out better for them than it did for the Canucks, but the question still looms, what are the Rangers missing?
KANE’S SEASON: Kane is the subject of a sexual assault investigation in western New York.
Kane, 26, has not been charged and denies any wrongdoing.
The previous longest suspension for player-on-player violence was a 30-game suspension to Chris Simon of the New York Islanders in December 2007 for stomping on the skate of Pittsburgh forward Jarkko Ruutu. The rookie was limited by an upper-body injury during the preseason, but the Blackhawks raved about his talent and ability. “I’m not going to lie, intermission I’ll be making my way to the bar to watch the Cubs game”, said Lisa Busse. “Kid’s got a real nice gift of finding pucks and getting it off quickly”.
CALGARY, Alberta (AP) ” Daniel Sedin had a goal and two assists to lead Vancuver. His continued development could help make up for the lost production with the departure of Sharp and Saad.
Trailing 3-2 in the third, the Blackhawks made a couple of strong pushes for the tying goal. With Oduya gone, Chicago’s defensive pairings could be a work in progress at the start of the year.
ONE-TWO PUNCH: Crawford and Scott Darling could be one of the NHL’s best goaltender tandems.
Advertisement
Bill Smith/NHLI via Getty Images Rangers celebrate their third goal of the night, this one by Derek Stepan. Niklas Hjalmarsson is a top shutdown defender who makes his mark in the plus/minus category, and Trevor Daley is so bad defensively that his plus/minus will hurt his offensive production.
