Darling steals show in Toews' return for Blackhawks
Scott Darling once again stole the show.
The Blackhawks' goalie turned Jonathan Toews' return from a nine-game absence into a mere footnote thanks to his 33-save masterpiece in a 2-1 Hawks win over the host New York Rangers on Tuesday night.
Trevor van Riemsdyk and Artem Anisimov scored for coach Joel Quenneville's squad, which is 19-8-4 and tied with Montreal for most points (42) in the NHL.
We're running out of words to describe Darling's play of late. No matter how good a chance, second chance or third chance the opponent gets, the 6-foot-6 human wall stands tall.
Since Corey Crawford was sidelined with an appendectomy, Darling is 3-2-1 with a .955 save percentage, allowing just 8 goals.
Said van Riemsdyk: “Couple of highlight-reel saves there that just leave you saying, ‘Wow.' He's been awesome.”
Darling made several huge stops in an entertaining back-and-forth second period, then saved his best for last with the Hawks clinging to their 1-goal lead late in the third.
First, Darling stopped a Mats Zuccarello one-timer from 20 feet away with three minutes to go. A minute later, Jimmy Vesey nearly scored from in close, but Darling turned it away.
Then with 1:18 remaining, the puck trickled behind Darling when J.T. Miller slammed into him, but Marian Hossa swooped in and swept the puck out of the blue paint.
“As the game got on, the chances got a little bit higher in quality and he made some key saves in that second and some big ones in the third as well,” Quenneville said.
Added Darling, who is 7-2-2 overall: “They were coming to the net hard, banging rebounds They're a great team. They have a lot of great players all throughout their lineup, especially offensively.”
Van Riemsdyk gave the Hawks a 1-0 lead when he snapped a 176-plus-minute scoreless streak by Rangers goalie Antti Raanta 5:18 into the second period. Van Riemsdyk, without a goal since the Hawks' 56th game last season, scored when Artemi Panarin found him for a one-timer.
“When you're out there with (Patrick Kane) and Bread Man, you just kind of skate around with your stick on the ice and if you're open, they'll find you,” van Riemsdyk said.
New York tied it at 8:15 of the second on a goal by Jesper Fast.
The Hawks made it 2-1 when Brian Campbell took the puck behind the net and threw it out front to Anisimov, who buried it past Raanta for his 13th goal of the season. For Campbell, who was without a point in 11 straight games, it was his seventh assist.
“Great little play from Soupy from behind the net,” Quenneville said.
As for Toews, he wasn't particularly noticeable in 18:09 of ice time, but the captain certainly was excited to be able to play again.
“It's fun to get back,” Toews told reporters before the game, “especially the way it's been these last few weeks where you kind of feel like you're getting close and all of a sudden you realize you're not quite there yet.”
The Rangers (20-10-1) played without defenseman and captain Ryan McDonagh, who was sick. Raanta, who had stopped 62 of 63 shots in his three previous starts, made 24 saves vs. the Hawks.