The most excitement Connor Bedard saw in his Madison Square Garden debut with the Blackhawks was the hype surrounding it.
Because from the moment the puck dropped to the final whistle Thursday night, the Rangers were the only main attraction worth seeing in a dominant 4-1 win over Chicago and the highlight-reel-starring 2023 first-overall pick.
A matchup between the second-place Blueshirts and the second-to-last-place Blackhawks went how it was supposed to.
Crushing Chicago in nearly every statistical category, aside from hits, the Rangers handed the Blackhawks their fourth consecutive loss and their sixth in their last seven.
Bedard may have headlined the matchup with his first appearance at the World’s Most Famous Arena, but the Garden faithful had their eyes on Brennan Othmann, the Rangers’ 16th-overall pick in 2021 who made his NHL debut.
After the first period, Othmann led all players on the ice with three shots on goal before finishing with a game-high five while skating alongside Nick Bonino and Jonny Brodzinski.
Peter Laviolette had taken issue with the Rangers’ third period in Tuesday’s 6-1 loss to the Hurricanes, but the head coach was surely pleased Thursday night.
Carrying a 2-1 lead into the final frame, the Rangers got a crucial goal from Jacob Trouba just over a minute and a half in.
The captain ripped a tough-angled shot that deflected off the stick of Philipp Kurashev and into the top of Chicago’s net.
Jimmy Vesey then buried a feed from Will Cuylle 1:10 later to give the Rangers a comfortable lead.
Both teams exchanged their first power plays of the night in the middle period, when Adam Fox was called for interference after a turnover at the blue line before Kevin Korchinski was called for interference just over a minute later to negate the rest of Chicago’s man advantage.
Once Fox got out of the box for the Rangers’ shortened power play, Vincent Trocheck cut to put the puck on net before Chris Kreider came barreling in to bury it.
The puck went in off Kreider’s skate as he stopped, which prompted Chicago goalie Petr Mrazek to wave it off and mimic a kicking motion.
Upon review, however, it was decided there was no distinct kicking motion and the goal was upheld.
It gave Kreider 20 goals on the season for the ninth time in his career.
The only other Rangers players to record as many 20-goal seasons are Rod Gilbert (12) and Jean Ratelle (nine).
As is customary for former Rangers facing their old team, Colin Blackwell scored his first goal of the season to get the Blackhawks on the board at the 17:02 mark of the middle period.
The Rangers had their way with the Blackhawks in the first period, when they snagged a 1-0 lead and did as they wished with the puck without much pushback.
The ease with which the Rangers can move the puck up and down the ice has been a positive trend against bottom-tier teams.
Trocheck knocked Bedard off the puck at the top of the Rangers’ zone to spring his line for an odd-man rush.
Accepting the puck from Trocheck, Alexis Lafreniere teed up Artemi Panarin for a one-timer in the opposite faceoff circle.
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