Blackhawks Dominated Once Again, Fall to the Rangers 6-1

The New York Rangers score six unanswered goals, defeating the Chicago Blackhawks on home ice. Chicago is 1-4 in their last five games.

Nick Lardis scored the lone goal for the Chicago Blackhawks. Chicago has now been outscored over the last two games by a total of 11-2. 

A Rough Stretch

The first game of the Northeast road trip showed us a glimmer of hope. A strong 4-3 win over the New York Islanders looked to show that the influx of young talent could take over. However, since the third period against New York, it’s been anything but a takeover. Including the third period on Long Island, the Chicago Blackhawks have been outscored 13-2 by opponents. Thursday night, the Blackhawks were crushed by the Philadelphia Flyers 5-1, and against the bottom-feeding Rangers, it was no different.  

So what’s going on? Simple, the defense is too young. Since the trading of Connor Murphy and the injury to Matt Grezclyk, Chicago has been lost in their own defensive zone. Since March 23, Chicago has given up the most shots allowed with a staggering 128. For reference, the Ottawa Senators have given up the second most, at 85. 

The Lardy Party Continues

Since being moved up to the second line, Nick Lardis has shown why he belongs in the top 6. In 29 games leading up to the move up, Lardis had five goals. Since his promotion, he has three goals, one assist, and a total of four points in three games. Tonight, he scored that third goal off a great play by Alex Vlasic.

Vlasic got the puck from Artyom Levshunov along the blue line. The big defenseman then proceeded to dangle between three Rangers defenders before Tyler Bertuzzi picked up the puck and fired a cross-crease pass to Nick Lardis.  

Story continues below.

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Sacha Boisvert was the second piece. The forward from Quebec made his debut on Friday and has already been a spark plug for the Chicago Blackhawks. Despite the tough losses, Boisvert has been a top-five forward for Chicago, according to @hockeystatcards on Twitter. And tonight, Sacha picked up his first NHL fight, scrapping Will Borgen of the “Rags”.