NEW YORK _ If the Rangers are going to keep the rest of this season interesting, these are the kinds of games they need to win.
Playing their final home game before the All-Star break, the Rangers matched up against the rebuilding Chicago Blackhawks and beat them, 4-3, Thursday night at Madison Square Garden. The victory, their second straight and third in the last four games, got them back to NHL .500, at 20-20-7 (47 points). The Rangers will close out their pre-All Star break schedule Saturday night in Boston.
Henrik Lundqvist made 24 saves to earn his second straight victory and the 445th of his career, which moved him into a tie for sixth all time with Terry Sawchuk. Lundqvist is nine wins behind Curtis Joseph.
Filip Chytil, Mats Zuccarello, Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad (into an empty net) had the goals for the Rangers. The top line of Zibanejad, Kreider and Zuccarello has totaled 13 points (five goals, eight assists) in the past two games.
After he had three assists in Tuesday's 6-2 win over Carolina, Rangers coach David Quinn said Zuccarello was playing his best hockey of the season and the right wing seemed to be more at ease after talking to several people in the organization about his personal situation.
"You just see a little bit more of a bounce in his step; his personality's back," Quinn said that night. "He's playing with a lot of passion and enthusiasm. He's always competed, for sure, but I just think he's in a much better mind frame and he's playing really well. It's the best hockey he's played since the season started, for sure."
Zuccarello has been a fan favorite since he joined the team as an undrafted free agent in 2010. But in the final year of his contract, and with the Rangers admittedly in rebuilding mode, everyone expects he almost certainly will be traded before the Feb. 25 deadline. On the Rangers' recent Western trip, Zuccarello told Larry Brooks of the New York Post that his situation had been weighing on him. After that, Quinn said he had spoken to Zuccarello, and so had general manager Jeff Gorton.
"He's a sensitive guy, he loves being a Ranger, and we love having him here," Quinn said at practice Wednesday. "You know, there's a business aspect to all this; there's an uncertainty piece to it _ that's not easy for people to handle. We're all human beings. I think sometimes that gets lost in all of this. You see these athletes getting paid big bucks and they're human beings."
Though Quinn said Zuccarello hadn't had his situation cleared up in anyway, he thought just talking about it helped Zuccarello feel better. And against the Blackhawks, the 5-7, 179-pounder was flying. With the score tied at 1 after a power-play goal by Chicago's Brandon Saad and a pretty, end-to-end rush by Chytil, Zuccarello put the Rangers in the lead when he crashed the goal crease and jammed in the rebound of Kreider's shot at 17:38 of the first period.
Zuccarello then fed Zibanejad for a pretty goal that would have made it 3-1 at 6:57 of the second period, but that was overturned after a challenge by the Blackhawks because of an offside. When the Rangers did go ahead 3-1 on Kreider's goal at 13:09 of the second period, it was Zuccarello who set up the play by carrying the puck into the slot area, though he lost the puck before Kreider whacked it in and was not credited with an assist.
