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NHL on NBCSN: Rangers look to push win streak to seven games against ‘Hawks

at Madison Square Garden on February 17, 2016 in New York City.

at Madison Square Garden on February 17, 2016 in New York City.

Elsa

NBCSN’s coverage of the 2017-18 NHL season continues on Wednesday night, as the Chicago Blackhawks host the New York Rangers at 8:00 p.m. ET. You can watch the game online by clicking here.

Things have been going (really, really) well for the Rangers of late. They’ll head into tonight’s game against the Blackhawks having won each of their last six games. During the streak, they’ve taken down the Golden Knights, Lightning, Panthers, Blue Jackets, Bruins and Oilers.

Veteran goalie Henrik Lundqvist, who struggled out of the gate, has been between the pipes for each of the six victories.

“We’ve had a great run here, but because of our start we’re not in a great position,” Lundqvist said, per the New York Post. “So it’s important that we understand the importance of the next six games and the games after that. I’m happy that we put this streak together because we were putting ourselves in the race, but we’re still not in a great spot.

“But we are doing a lot of good things and that brings a lot of confidence to the group.When you have that, it’s easier to make good decisions under pressure and make better reads. Guys are coming up with big plays at the right time.”

On the other side, things haven’t been going as well for the ‘Hawks, who have dropped three of their last four games, including an ugly 7-5 loss to the New Jersey Devils (Chicago had a 4-1 lead in that one).

Scoring has been an issue for for them this season. They’ve scored 53 goals so far (ranked 16th in the league), but 10 of those came in the first game of the year against Pittsburgh and five came in the second game against Columbus. From the third game of the season until this point, they’ve only found the back of the net 38 times in 16 games.

“We’ve never been in this spot,’’ head coach Joel Quenneville said, per the Chicago Tribune. “Finding that consistency and putting ourselves at the top of the division has always been there. Now that we’re not there, how we’re handling it is a good test for us.’’

Joey Alfieri is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @joeyalfieri.