Blackhawks Drop Second Straight Blowout as Rangers Roll 6-1 Behind Garand's First NHL Win

Game Summary

Two blowout losses in two nights. The Blackhawks fell 6-1 to the Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Friday, one night after getting hammered 5-1 in Philadelphia. That's 11 goals against and 2 goals for over back-to-back games on this East Coast road trip. Chicago has now lost four of its last five and drops to 27-33-13.

The first period was actually competitive. Nick Lardis gave Chicago a 1-0 lead at 17:34, finishing off a passing play from Tyler Bertuzzi and Alex Vlasic for his 8th of the season. But J.T. Miller tied it less than a minute later at 18:32, and from there it was all New York. Matthew Robertson made it 2-1 at 5:24 of the second. Adam Sykora scored his first career NHL goal at 8:20 — the 21-year-old beat Soderblom cleanly from the slot. Jonny Brodzinski pushed it to 4-1 at 16:07 of the second, then added his second of the night at 16:00 of the third. Alexis Lafreniere scored a power-play goal in between at 13:17 after an Alex Vlasic interference penalty.

Dylan Garand, a 23-year-old making his second career NHL start, stopped 27 of 28 shots for a .964 save percentage and his first career win. The Rangers also got an NHL debut from defenseman Drew Fortescue, who picked up his first career point — an assist on Brodzinski's second goal. New York snapped a six-game losing streak. It was only their fifth home win in regulation all season.

The New-Look Roster

Twenty giveaways. That number tells you everything about this game. The Blackhawks coughed up the puck 20 times against a Rangers team that had lost six straight and entered with just four regulation wins at home all season. Chicago was sloppy, slow to pucks, and couldn't sustain anything offensively after the Lardis goal. Soderblom stopped 33 of 39 (.846) and can't be blamed for much — multiple goals came off breakdowns in front of him, and the Lafreniere power-play goal was a product of the Vlasic penalty. This was a team-wide no-show on the back end of a back-to-back.

Frondell had a quiet night in his third NHL game — no points, 20:50 of ice time, and didn't generate much. That's to be expected on a back-to-back where the whole team was flat. Bedard was held without a point a night after scoring his 30th in Philly — 3 shots, 20:32 of ice time, 10-for-20 on faceoffs. Boisvert's night was more eventful than productive: he picked up a roughing penalty at 9:42 and then fought Will Borgen at 16:23 of the third. It's his second NHL game and his first fight. Del Mastro was also in the middle of the rough stuff with a roughing call of his own. The third period got ugly — seven penalties between the two teams in the final 20 minutes.

On a positive note, Louis Crevier returned and played 18:05 after the scary skate blade incident in Philadelphia the night before. That's a tough kid. With Grzelcyk still out for the road trip, having Crevier back in the lineup — even on a night like this — matters for the blue line depth.

Looking Ahead

The road trip wraps up Sunday at the New Jersey Devils (6:00 p.m. CT on NHL Network). It's been a brutal stretch — the Blackhawks have gone 1-3 on this four-game East Coast swing, with the only win coming in the opener at the Islanders. Frondell has played three of a possible nine games before the first year of his entry-level contract burns. Grzelcyk and Mangiapane remain out. At 27-33-13 and 67 points with 9 games to play, Chicago remains last in the Central. These are the kind of nights where you remind yourself what this season is about — evaluation and development — and move on to the next one.