Blackhawks @ Rangers
Madison Square Garden, 7:00 p.m. Monday
Rangers record: 5-4-1
Blackhawks record: 7-5-1
Fresh off their first shutout of the 2010 season, the
Rangers will take on the defending Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks on
Monday night at Madison
Square Garden.
Everyone knows what happened in Chicago during the offseason- Blackhawks
management was forced to dismantle much of its roster because of major salary
cap issues. Gone are integral pieces of
last year’s squad like Dustin Byfuglien, Andrew Ladd, Kris Versteeg, Antti
Niemi etc. But Chicago still has plenty of talent including
four superstars in Jonathan Toews, Marian Hossa, Patrick Kane and Duncan
Keith. Chicago hasn’t been quite as
dominant this season, but still leads the Central Division and has the second
most points in the league (although the Blackhawks have played more games than
anyone). Thus far Chicago has been able to replace much of the
offense it lost with contributions from young players like Viktor Stalberg,
Bryan Bickell and Jake Dowell. But it’s
Patrick Sharp that leads Chicago,
and the league, in goals with 10. Perhaps the biggest question mark for the Blackhawks this season was how
Marty Turco would perform. Turco had
been on a steady decline for Dallas
but was scooped up by the Blackhawks when they realized that they wouldn’t be
able to retain Niemi. So far the results
have been mostly positive for Turco.
The Rangers picked up two points with a 2-0 win over Toronto on Saturday night
but their efforts lately haven’t been as good. The good news is that Henrik Lundqvist, while certainly not bad early in
the season, is clearly at the top of his game. Lundqvist was actually matched by Cam Ward on Friday night but was
furious about the results of the game and picked up the shutout Saturday. He’s benefited a dedicated effort by his
teammates to block as many shots as possible over the last few weeks. It was once up to Chris Drury, Ryan Callahan
and Brandon Dubinsky to sacrifice their bodies on every shift, but lately to a
man the Rangers have been blocking shots from anywhere and everywhere.
It will take a huge effort to beat the Blackhawks, but the
concentration on team defense and blocked shots certainly gives the Rangers a
shot. If they continue that and stay out
of the penalty box, there’s no reason the Blueshirts can’t give the ‘Hawks a
game. But if the Rangers stray from
their commitment to helping out Hank and don’t pop in a few goals, it will be
very difficult for the Rangers to earn a W.
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Reports earlier today indicated that rookie Mats Zuccarello
was heading back to Sweden. Jesse Spector of the Daily News did some
poking around and discovered that the reports were bogus and Zuccarello isn’t
going anywhere. It’s not unlikely that
Zuccarello was disappointed to not make the Rangers and is a little frustrated
with how he’s struggled to adapt to the North American game, but it appears
that the Swedish paper Sportbladets, which apparently has a stellar reputation,
was mistaken. Zuccarello isn’t going
anywhere right now, but if he continues to struggle there’s reason to believe
he might want to return to Sweden
where he is beloved. Nothing to the
reports right now, but it’s certainly something to keep an eye on. Wouldn’t be the first time a European player
came over and struggled and wanted to return to his homeland.
