RECAP: Blackhawks Bounce Back to Shut Out Rangers at Home

CHICAGO -- Spencer Knight made 21 saves for the Chicago Blackhawks in a 3-0 victory against the New York Rangers at United Center on Wednesday.

Connor Bedard had a goal and an assist for the Blackhawks (13-11-6), who were coming off consecutive losses by a combined score of 13-1 at the Los Angeles Kings and Anaheim Ducks on Saturday and Sunday, respectively. Knight got his second shutout of the season and the seventh of his NHL career.

"Honestly, everyone's always like, ‘Bounce back,’” Knight said. “It's not really a bounce back to me. It's just another day. You're going to have games where that happens. I actually really liked my game in L.A. (allowed six goals on 32 shots in a 6-0 loss). You can't overanalyze it, just take what you can from the game and move on. Every game is a new game. That's how I approach it. It was good."

Igor Shesterkin made 22 saves for the Rangers (15-13-4), who have lost three in a row (0-1-2) and had a four-game point streak end (2-0-2).

“They outcompeted us and outexecuted us,” New York captain J.T. Miller said. “We had trouble getting on the inside. It’s hard to score when you’re on the outside on the O-zone. They’re a man-on-man team. They kept us on the outside most of the night, created a lot of turnovers and defended well.”

Louis Crevier gave the Blackhawks a 1-0 lead with a short-handed goal at 7:08 of the second period. The defenseman took a pass from Matt Grzelcyk at the Rangers blue line, moved in and put a backhand past Shesterkin on the stick side.

“It was pretty fun,” Crevier said. “I was a little mad at first because I thought I could have had an easier breakaway, like the puck was right there. I just kind of turned around and [Grzelcyk] made me a nice pass. I don’t get too many looks like this, but it was a fun one.”

Rangers forward Vincent Trocheck said giving up the short-handed goal didn't necessarily change the momentum.

“It’s one goal,” said Trocheck, the closest player to Crevier when he scored. “We have a ton of game left. We can’t let that happen. That’s on us.”

The Blackhawks had a goal by Ryan Donato overturned at 10:40 after the Rangers challenged for a missed game stoppage event and it was determined Chicago forward Colton Dach directed the puck with a hand pass.

Bedard then extended the lead to 2-0 at 14:27. Andre Burakovsky drove down the left wing and passed in front to Bedard, where he one-timed the puck over Shesterkin’s glove.

Tyler Bertuzzi made it 3-0 at 3:52 of the third period, jamming in a rebound at the right post after Shesterkin made a stick save on Ryan Greene’s between-the-legs attempt.

Knight made 11 saves in the second period, then preserved the shutout in the third when he made back-to-back stops on Noah Laba from in tight at 9:49 before stopping a backhand by Trocheck from close range at 12:58.

“It was certainly a complete game,” Chicago coach Jeff Blashill said. “I thought we did a really good job through the 60 minutes. I would say the first was really good, the second was fine. I thought the third, outside of the penalties, we did a really good job. Came out in the third and kind of play the way you have to play to grind away wins. It was the type of hockey that leads to success, so we’ll just keep building off it.”

Rangers coach Mike Sullivan said he knew the Blackhawks would come out ready to play after their back-to-back losses on the West Coast.

“I thought from the drop of the puck they were quicker,” he said. “They were quicker to pucks. They played with more urgency. To put it in context, they had a couple of tough games going into this. Everybody in this league is proud. We knew they were going to come out with urgency based on the circumstance surrounding their team. And we didn’t match the urgency.”

NOTES: Knight became the fifth Blackhawks goalie in the modern era (since 1943-44) to have multiple shutouts in a season at age 24 or younger. The others: Jocelyn Thibault (four in 1998-99), Harry Lumley (three in 1950-51), Michael Leighton (two in 2003-04) and Jimmy Waite (two in 1992-93). … With his 39th career multipoint game, Bedard moved into a tie with Patrick Kane for the fourth-most by a Chicago player age 20 or younger, behind Denis Savard (44), Jeremy Roenick (41) and Eddie Olczyk (41). … The Rangers had a 36-12 advantage in hits. … Each team was 0-for-3 on the power play.