Louis Domingue made 25 saves in his first NHL start in more than a year and the New York Rangers crushed the Chicago Blackhawks 6-2 at the United Center on Sunday.
Recalled last Tuesday from the Hartford Wolf Pack, in the American Hockey League, in the wake of the upper body injury suffered by goaltender Igor Shesterkin, Domingue had not played in the NHL since November 9, 2023, a victory 4-1 against the Minnesota Wild.
Filip Chytil, with a double, Jonny Brodzinski, Will Borgen, Reilly Smith and Vincent Trocheck scored, and Brett Berard, Adam Fox and Ryan Lindgren had two assists each for the Rangers (18-20-1), who lost 7-4 against the Washington Capitals on Saturday.
Tyler Bertuzzi and Wyatt Kaiser hit the target and Arvid Soderblom 28 shots for the Blackhawks (13-25-2), who suffered a sixth defeat in seven outings.
Bertuzzi, however, allowed the Blackhawks to start the game well by hitting the target after 5:37 of play. He completed a pass from Connor Bedard after a turnover by the Rangers in their territory.
Bedard collected at least one point in a seventh consecutive game (three goals, six assists), a personal best. He became the second Blackhawks player under 20 since 1986-87 with such a streak of at least seven games, after Jonathan Toews (5-5—10; 10 games in 2007-08).
Brodzinski responded at 15:12 with a shot from the top of the circles that beat Soderblom through traffic.
Borgen gave New York a 2-1 lead 3:10 later with a precise wrist shot into the top corner of the circles. It was Borgen’s first goal with the Rangers, after he was acquired from the Seattle Kraken in the Kaapo Kakko trade on December 18.
The Rangers continued their demolition work in the second period. Chytil completed a feed from Fox in the slot at 3:28, before seeing Smith make it 4-1 at 9:54. Smith beat the Blackhawks goaltender between the pads with a beautiful feint thanks to a long pass from Mika Zibanejad, his 400th career in the NHL.
Trocheck redirected an Artemi Panarin shot at 15:16 to increase New York’s lead to 5-1, but Kaiser cut the lead to 5-2 at 18:00. He scored his first goal in the NHL by beating Domingue in the top corner with a lightning wrist shot.
Chytil completed the scoring with his second goal at 8:36 of the final period. K’Andre Miller’s shot ricocheted off the goalkeeper and then onto him in front of the goal, before ending up in the back of the net.
Rangers forward Chris Kreider sat out the game due to an upper-body injury.
