Bantering Points: 12/14/16

For third consecutive season, the New York Rangers were unable to defend their home ice against the Chicago Blackhawks, falling 2-1 in a hard fought game. After Antti Raanta's hot play started to cool off last night, the rumblings of a goalie controversy should seem like a distant memory soon enough, as Henrik Lundqvist will likely be in goal tomorrow night against the Dallas Stars. Here are today's news and links:

Rangers News:

• Highlights: CHI 2, NYR 1 (4:24 Video via NHL.com)
• Game Recap: Former Ranger Artem Anisimov makes New York pay by scoring the game winning goal in the closing minutes of the second period (CBS)
• Larry Brooks writes last night's result should make the decision to start Henrik Lundqvist an easy one for tomorrow night's game against the Stars (NY Post)
• Steve Zipay passes along word that Rick Nash is "very, very close" to getting back in action for the Rangers (Newsday)
• Garret Gartino graded New York's returning forwards in the second edition of his in-season report cards (Blue Line Station)
• John Williams believes that J.T. Miller's development over the last few seasons has made him the team's new Ryan Callahan (Blue Line Station)
• Dave Shapiro offered his take on the Rangers' former goalie controversy before last night's meeting with Chicago (Blue Seat Blogs)
• Jason Pothier speculates whether or not George McPhee would be interested in selecting Antti Raanta from the Rangers in the upcoming expansion draft (The Sin Bin)
• Matt Calamia discussed how Marek Hrivik and Nicklas Jensen have needed to adjust on-the-fly in order to keep up at the NHL level (Official Team Site)
• Postgame Notes: Jesper Fast snapped a 17 game scoring drought with his goal last night, but that was the only offense New York was capable of mustering (Official Team Site)
• Postgame Interviews: Alain Vigneault, (2:03) Antti Raanta, (2:41) and Dan Girardi (0:32)
• He played 82 games in Ranger blue before shipping up to Boston in the summer of 2002, and was a former 1st Overall pick. Yesterday's player in the picture was.....Bryan Berard (Wikipedia)/

Around the NHL:

• Elliotte Friedman authors another edition of his 30 Thoughts (Sportsnet)
• Frank Seravalli points out that Pittsburgh Penguins' superstar center Sidney Crosby is flirting with NHL history thanks to his hot start (TSN)
• Greg Wyshynski relays tragic news, as actor Alan Thicke passed away of a heart attack while playing hockey with son yesterday at age 69. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Thicke's family, friends, and loved ones as they try to cope with his loss (Puck Daddy)
• Jared Clinton saw that Brady Skjei wasn't the only New York hockey player who got cut by a skate last night, as Islanders forward Casey Cizikas had a similar incident against the Washington Capitals (The Hockey News)/