Panarin reaches 500 NHL points in Rangers win against Blackhawks

Artemi Panarin went over 500 points for his NHL career with two goals and two assists in the New York Rangers seventh straight win, 6-2 against the Chicago Blackhawks at United Center in Chicago on Tuesday.

Panarin also scored and had two assists in a 3-2 win against the Blackhawks, his first NHL team, at New York on Saturday. He has scored 503 points (174 goals, 329 assists) in 457 NHL games.
"He was unbelievable today," Rangers center Mika Zibanejad said. "Big game from him."
Alexandar Georgiev made 24 saves in his second straight start since Igor Shesterkin was placed on injured reserve with a lower-body injury for New York (17-4-3), which has won 11 of 12 games since Nov. 8.
"I think, especially, when we're playing the way we want to, we've seen the result of that and at least we give ourselves a chance to win every night," Zibanejad said. "We're playing well right now and we just have to keep that going. That's obviously the confidence in the group that we see that we can win in different ways."

Marc-Andre Fleury made 24 saves in his first attempt for NHL win No. 500, and Kirby Dach scored for the first time since Oct. 27 for Chicago (9-14-2).
The game was delayed briefly at 6:10 of the second period when Blackhawks forward Jujhar Khaira had to be taken off the ice on a stretcher after a hit from Rangers defenseman Jacob Trouba.
Chicago coach Derek King said he was told Khaira was up and responsive at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.
"We won't know the extent of the injury until after these tests," King said. "But he's talking, he's coherent, I guess. It's a scary situation to see."
Chicago captain Jonathan Toews said he was "pretty shaken" after the hit and that the Blackhawks struggled to regain their focus after that; the Rangers scored four times in the third period to break a 2-2 tie.
"We could've had a better response as a team, but yeah, I think the guys felt that one a little bit," Toews said. "Obviously we wanted to win for Jujhar, but that was not the response we were looking for."

Panarin scored a power-play goal at 3:19 of the second period to tie it 2-2. Chris Kreider's 10th power-play goal of the season gave New York a 3-2 lead at 4:59 of the third period.
The Rangers were 2-for-2 on the power play to improve to 7-for-19 (36.8 percent) in the seven-game winning streak. They were 4-for-4 on the penalty kill and are 19-for-19 in the past six games, and 21-for-22 (95.5 percent) during the winning streak.
"We're not going to score [on the power play] every game, but at least give our team the momentum, and when we score it's huge for us," Zibanejad said. "All five guys out there, even the second unit, can make plays. We have to take advantage of the ice that's available and the plays that are there. I think we're doing a good job of that now."
Kevin Rooney extended the lead to 4-2 at 12:10. Panarin scored an empty-net goal at 16:50 to make it 5-2, and Barclay Goodrow scored at 18:41 for the 6-2 final.
"The way we were going, we just didn't have that extra jam to have a pushback," King said. "An empty-netter and they score another one, that's how it happens. But we'll just regroup, recharge the batteries and we'll take our show on the road now."

Trouba scored from the right circle 1:01 into the first period to give the Rangers a 1-0 lead. Panarin got an assist for his 500th NHL point.
The Blackhawks tied it 43 seconds later, when Erik Gustafsson scored with a glove-side wrist shot from the blue line to make it 1-1. Dach scored from the slot to give Chicago a 2-1 lead at 7:09.
"The first (period) was real tough to watch," Rangers coach Gerard Gallant said. "We didn't win many battles in that, but we hung around in the game like we've done a few times this year and then found a way to play real good in the third."
NOTES: The Rangers' 17 wins are their most through the first 24 games of a season. Their 37 points are tied for the second (1931-32). … New York's seven-game winning streak is its longest since a nine-game streak from Oct. 25-Nov. 15, 2015. … The Blackhawks played without defensemen Caleb Jones (non-COVID related illness), Connor Murphy (concussion) and Jake McCabe (undisclosed family reasons). Murphy and McCabe each missed his third straight game. … The game was Fleury's 900th in the NHL, the eighth goalie with that many. Fleury (499-285-80 with two ties) remained one win from joining Martin Brodeur (691) and Patrick Roy (551) as the only goalies with 500 NHL wins. ... Panarin scored scored 151 points (61 goals, 90 assists) in 162 games for Chicago in his first two NHL seasons. He scored 169 points (55 goals, 114 assists) in 160 games for the Columbus Blue Jackets, and has scored 183 points (58 goals, 125 assists) in 135 games for the Rangers.