Pregame Notes: Rangers vs. Blackhawks 12.07.21
INDIVIDUAL CAREER STATISTICS VS. BLACKHAWKS
Barclay Goodrow - 21 GP, 3G-7A=10 PTS - Goodrow has at least one point in eight of 21 games against Chicago and has two multi-point games against the Blackhawks in his career (Jan. 15, 2021 &Nov. 5, 2019).
Jacob Trouba - 23 GP, 1G-9A=9 PTS - Trouba has posted a multi-point game in four of his last 12 games against the Blackhawks (one goal, eight assists). On Saturday night, Trouba notched his first point against Chicago since Nov. 28, 2019 when he was with Winnipeg.
Mika Zibanejad - 11 GP, 6G-3A=9 PTS - Zibanejad has recorded a goal/point in six of 11 career games against Chicago, including five of his last eight contests and four of his last six games. Zibanejad has been a combined plus-5 in his last three games against Chicago.
Goalies vs. CHI
Alexandar Georgiev (1 GP, 1-0-0, 2 GA, 2.00 GAA)
RANGERS AND BLACKHAWKS CONNECTIONS
WIN-TER IS COMING
The Rangers enter tonight's game on a season-long six-game winning streak, their longest since Oct. 31-Nov. 11, 2017 (6 GP). A win tonight would give them their longest win streak since winning nine-straight from Oct. 25-Nov. 15, 2015.
The Rangers are tied for the second longest active win streak in the NHL. Dallas leads with seven-straight.
New York is 16-4-3 for 35 points through its first 23 games of the season, tied for the most wins in a season through 23 games (2021-22, 2015-16, 1993- 94, 1971-72, 1968-69) and tied for the second most points through 23 games in a season (1971-72 - 36 Pts, 2021-22 - 35 Pts, 1931-32 - 35 Pts).
The Blueshirts' .761-point percentage is the second best in the NHL behind Florida's .771 percentage (17-4-3).
ARTEMI'S GONNA BE (500 POINTS)
On October 7, 2015, Artemi Panarin made his NHL debut with the Chicago Blackhawks, recording his first career point (1G) against the New York Rangers at United Center. A little over 2,250 days later, Panarin heads to Chicago, as a Ranger, sitting one point away from 500 in his career.
With a point tonight, in his 457th game, Panarin will become the 49th player in NHL history to record 500 points in 457 games or less. Panarin would join Connor McDavid, Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Alex Ovechkin as the only active players to reach the milestone in 457 games or less.
Panarin would join Connor McDavid, Patrick Kane, Leon Draisaitl and Brad Marchand as the only players to record 500 points since the beginning of the 2015-16 season. Additionally. Panarin would become the 21st Russian-born skater with 500 points.
This season, Panarin leads the Rangers with 26 points (7G-19A), and in his past six games has three goals and seven assists for 10 points. Panarin has recorded a point in 12 of the Rangers' 16 wins, and the Rangers have earned a point in each of the 15 games he has tallied a point (12-0-3 record).
Panarin is the only player in the NHL with 26+ points and 24+ takeaways. Panarin is the Blueshirts' all-time leader in points per game (1.34) and assists per game (0.92 min.- 5 games played).
ROAD WARRIORS
New York has won three of its last four road games and have points in 10 of its 13 road games this season. In the NHL this season, the Rangers are tied for the third-most road wins (8) and have the third-most road points (18) and fourth-best road points percentage (.692).
CLOSING THE CAGE
In its last eight games, New York has allowed two or fewer goals in seven of them with the outlier coming in a 5-4 win against Buffalo. In those seven games, the Rangers have allowed two goals four times, one goal twice and recorded one shutout. The Blueshirts have the fifth best goals-against average in the NHL (2.48) and since Nov. 16, the Rangers' 1.75 goals-against average per game is second in the NHL (PIT leads with 1.64 GA/GP in that span).
HERE'S THE SITUATION
Situationally, this season the Rangers are:
DECEMBER TO REMEMBER?
The Rangers have started off the month of December with a 3-0 record, the first time since the 1998-99 season (4-0-0 to begin month) that the Blueshirts have won their first three games of December.
WHAT DOES THE FOX SAY?
Adam Fox comes into the game tonight on a six-game assist streak (8A), the longest active assist streak in the NHL. The defending Norris Trophy winner is second among NHL defensemen in assists (20) and points (25) with Victor Hedman leading in both those categories (21A, 26 PTS).
Fox's 2021-22 season marks the seventh time in franchise history a Rangers defenseman has tallied 25 or more points and 20 or more assists in the team's first 23 games of a season:
Adam Fox - 2021-22 - 25 PTS
Brian Leetch - 2000-01 - 29 PTS
Brian Leetch - 1993-94 - 28 PTS
Brian Leetch - 1992-93 - 28 PTS
Brian Leetch - 1990-91 - 30 PTS
James Patrick - 1987-88 - 25 PTS
Brad Park - 1973-74 - 26 PTS
This year, Fox has recorded a point in 14 of the Rangers' 16 wins (14-1-3 in games he has a point).
Among NHL defenseman, Fox has the third most takeaways with 25, trailing MacKenize Weegar (36) and Alex Pietrangelo (39) and his plus-10 rating is tied for the ninth best in the league among d-men.
STROME OF THE BRAVE
Ryan Strome has points in back-to-back games (2G-1A) and in 10 of his last 11 games (4G-9A). Since Nov. 8, Strome is a plus-9 and registering 1.18 points per game.
Among Rangers, Strome's five goals are tied for the third most, his 12 assists are fourth-most, and 17 points are the fifth most. Strome's three game winning goals are tied for the most on New York.
TROU BLUE
Jacob Trouba has points in seven of his last 11 games (4G-4A) and is a plus-6 in that same span. Trouba is one of three players (MacKenzie Weegar, Adam Larsson) in the NHL with 60+ hits and 45+ blocked shots. Among Rangers, Trouba ranks:
POWER PLAY
PP Leaders:
Goals: Kreider (9)
Points: Panarin (10), Fox (10)
PP TOI: Kreider (78:11)
PP Shots: Zibanejad (23)
PENALTY KILL
PK Leaders:
SH Goals: Fox (1)
SH TOI: Goodrow (57:49)
SH Shots: Goodrow (5), Trouba (5)
