Artem Anisimov hat trick, DeBrincat goal spark Blackhawks past Rangers

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Blackhawks goalie Corey Crawford (50) makes a save on a shot by New York Rangers’ Ryan McDonagh (27) as Cody Franson also defends during the first period Wednesday night at the United Center. (Charles Rex Arbogast/AP)

Artem Anisimov was feeling pretty good after his first career hat trick sparked the Blackhawks to a 6-3 victory over the New York Rangers on Wednesday night at the United Center.

What’s he going to do with the puck?

“I don’t know. Probably do some [bleep] — I’m gonna put it on a wall,” the Russian center said, showing off his command of multiple facets of the English language.

Anisimov did what he does best, score in front of the net. And the Hawks (9-8-2) not coincidentally did what they do best — hustling, creating and scoring in bunches — to snap the Rangers’ six-game win streak. Trailing 1-0, the Hawks scored four goals in a 6:06 span of the second and third periods to take a 4-1 lead.

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“It means more [against the Rangers],” said Anisimov, who spent his first three seasons (2009-12) with New York. “When you go against your former team you want to play twice as hard and you want to score a goal, obviously. But I scored three, so I’m happy.”

But Anisimov acknowledged that it was rookie Alex DeBrincat’s fortuitous tying goal at 19:08 of the second period that sparked the rally. DeBrincat was just trying to create something when he shot the puck at Henrik Lundqvist from the top of the left face-off circle. But the puck slithered under Lundqvist’s pad for a 1-1 tie.

“That was the spark,” said Anisimov, who leads the Hawks with nine goals. “Like, ‘OK, we have a tight game right now.’ We sat and [thought] about it in the locker room. Just go out and play.”

DeBrincat’s goal, his seventh of the season and fourth in the last three games, came 20 seconds after the Hawks had failed for the fourth time on the power play, eliciting boos from the United Center crowd of 21,528.

“That was a lucky one. I’ll take it,” DeBrincat said. “It got the momentum and the team going.”

The third-period onslaught followed. Patrick Kane fed Anisimov from behind the net for a goal 67 seconds into the third period for a 2-1 lead. Rookie John Hayden scored 46 seconds later, beating Kevin Shattenkirk to a puck in front of the net to make it 3-1. Anisimov’s second effort on a rebound of a Cody Franson shot made it 4-1 at 5:14.

After Lundqvist was pulled 1:18 later, Kevin Hayes and Rick Nash scored goals to cut the lead to 4-3 with 8:04 to play. The Rangers

(9-8-2) nearly tied it, but defenseman Gustav Forsling made a clutch stick-stop on David Desharnais’ wraparound attempt with 5:10 to play in regulation.

Just when it looked like a repeat of the collapse against the Devils, the Hawks responded. Schmaltz fed Anisimov in front of the net for a tip-in past backup goalie Ondrej Pavelec that gave the Hawks a 5-3 lead at 16:12. Jonathan Toews added an empty-net goal.

For the Hawks, it was a reminder they need to do the little things for their skill to make the difference.

“It’s true,” Anisimov said. “Second effort’s the most important thing right now in the game. If you win the battles, you can have the puck and you can make plays.”

Follow me on Twitter @MarkPotash.

Email: mpotash@suntimes.com

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