Panarin sealed the points for the Blackhawks less than two minutes later. In 2014 Chicago lost in overtime of Game 7 of the Conference Finals to the eventual cup winning Los Angeles Kings who defeated the Rangers in 5 games. Getting back in the win column may not be so hard for the Rangers, though, as they face a Toronto team that is beginning a four-game homestand that follows a 1-4-0 road trip. With the triumph the Blackhawks are now back on top of the Central Division with 81 points, one ahead of the Dallas Stars. In 60 games played this season, Kane has 82 points and is on pace for a season total of 112. Beginning with Panarin’s 19th goal of the season, the defending Stanley Cup champions scored on four of six shots. Instead, he let his play do the talking at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday night.
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“I’m sure that the guys that are on the team now that have been a part of it before will enjoy it, and the guys who weren’t here will try to do it again this year and be back again”, said Patrick Kane, who set up Panarin’s victor with 3 minutes to play. Brassard had tied the game at 2-all with his career-best 20th goal. They put themselves down 2-0 very early with some poor plays, especially by Dan Boyle who couldn’t handle Andrew Desjardins of all people.
Chicago was leading 3-0 in the second when Darling dove to grab Spaling’s shot, drawing a big ovation from the crowd of 21,767.
At 8:17 of the 2nd period, Rangers forward Kris Kreider took a penalty for holding defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson sending Chicago on the power play. Viktor Stalberg did an excellent job in the corner tying up Erik Gustafsson, and allowed Oscar Lindberg to collect the loose puck.
Both power-play goals came on a four-minute high-sticking penalty to Vincent Hinostroza.
Kevin Hayes’ 10th of the season trimmed lead to 2-1 at 13:45.
The Blackhawks remained calm and relentless attacking the Rangers defense and scoring clutch goals on the power play. And then at 2:27 while in the second half of the double minor, Kevin Hayes sent a backdoor pass to Dan Boyle at the left post.
With 4:28 left, Lundqvist preserved the one-goal deficit, stopping Teuvo Teravainen racing down the left side and the quick rebound on the doorstep from Brandon Mashinter. 7, Chicago, Panarin 21 (Kane, Seabrook), 17:00 (pp).
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Henrik Lundqvist made just 15 saves while Corey Crawford stopped 31 shots for the Blackhawks (38-18-5). The performance was capped by an empty-net goal late in the third period to clinch the victory… and then Keith Yandle chose to take a huge, two-handed, wholly unnecessary whack at Panarin’s legs. Panarin scored the Hawks’ first, fourth and fifth goals of the night for the first hat trick of his National Hockey League career.
