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Get your game notes: Rangers at Blackhawks

RichardsToews

Tonight on NBCSN, it’s the Chicago Blackhawks hosting the New York Rangers starting at 8 p.m. ET. Following are some game notes, as compiled by the NHL on NBC research team:

• The Rangers are one of only two teams (Detroit) with a winning road record (13-10-0) and a losing home record (8-10-3) this season. They started the season 3-6-0 on a franchise-long 9-game road trip that ended Oct. 26; since then, they have gone 10-4-0, including 3-1-0 in their last four.

• In the NHL, 11 players have a plus/minus rating of +20 or higher. Four of them are Blackhawks: wingers Patrick Sharp, Marian Hossa and defenseman Brent Seabrook (+22), and center Jonathan Toews (+21). No other team has more than two players over +20 (Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Anaheim). Only one current Chicago player has a minus rating: winger Bryan Bickell (-4).

• The Blackhawks lead the NHL in goals (163) and goals/game (3.62), and their average goal differential (1.00) trails only St. Louis (1.34). However, they have scored two or fewer goals in three of the last four games, going 1-0-2 in those three.

• Blackhawks goaltender Corey Crawford has lost his last four decisions (0-2-2), dating back to Dec. 3 (he missed 10 games with a lower-body injury). The six-year veteran has done that twice: five straight losses (0-4-1) from Jan. 21-Feb. 10, 2012, and four straight (0-4-0) from Oct. 13-Nov. 7, 2010.

• Blackhawks wingers Patrick Sharp (25 goals – 2nd in NHL) and Patrick Kane (23 goals – T-6th) are the highest-scoring teammates in the league, with 48 goals. Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby and Chris Kunitz rank second (24+23=47), followed by Anaheim’s Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf (24+20=44).

• Alain Vigneault (MTL, VAN, NYR) and Joel Quenneville (STL, COL, CHI) have manned opposite benches 42 times in the regular season during their NHL coaching careers. Vigneault is 18-18-6 against Quenneville-coached clubs.

• Six teams account for the NHL’s top 15 in points. The Blackhawks have four players among that group: Patrick Kane (54, T-2nd), Patrick Sharp (46, T-7th), Jonathan Toews (44, 11th) and Duncan Keith (42, T-14th). Pittsburgh (Crosby, Kunitz, Malkin) has three, while the N.Y. Islanders (Tavares, Okposo), Anaheim (Getzlaf, Perry), San Jose (Thornton, Marleau) and Washington (Backstrom, Ovechkin) each have two.

• Rangers LW Rick Nash has scored more points against the Blackhawks (24-27=51 in 55 games) than against any other NHL team. However, he hasn’t tasted victory against them since Feb. 18, 2011, as a member of the Columbus Blue Jackets (0-6-0).