After The Horn: Rangers vs Blue Jackets

Adam Hunger-USA TODAY Sports

Final Score: New York Rangers 3 Columbus Blue Jackets 4

First period:

The Rangers came out firing and ready. Chris Kreider was fast; so very fast. There were shots galore and from all over the place. Kreider, Rick Nash, Carl Hagelin, and Ryan Callahan all had really great shots early in the period. Kreider had a shot off the post that crossed to goal behind Sergei Bobrovsky and deflected off his skate to only narrowly miss the goal. If you weren’t yelling at your TV and jumping up and down you weren’t watching the game properly because this period had it all. The Rangers got the first power play of the night at 4:56 and weren’t able to convert. At 9:06 Kreider took a tripping penalty and the Rangers killed it off well. The Blue Jackets struck first at 17:07 when Brandon Dubinsky tipped the puck past Henrik Lundqvist. At 17:36 the Rangers again went on the power play and Nash finally got himself, and the Rangers, on the board to tie the game at one. The teams went to the intermission even at one. The Rangers out shot the Blue Jackets 16-10, and it took nearly ten minutes for the Blue Jackets to get their first shot on goal.

Second Period:

IN THE WORST CALL EVER Kreider gets tossed out and assessed a game misconduct for boarding because, Fedor Tyutin falls awkward and doesn’t try to soften his own blow on the boards. His arm was up and he could have stopped his face from hitting the glass and the dasher. Anson Carter said it the best, Kreider was throwing snow when he was trying to stop. For those who don’t remember, it was Tyutin who shouldered Taylor Pyatt in the face earlier in the season and put him out for awhile with a concussion.This is where the game changed. With Kreider gone J.T. Miller served the penalty. The team looked deflated and destroyed. The crowd was eerily silent. Dubinsky was also assessed with two minutes for roughing in the same event as he attempted to get Kreider to drop mitts. At 1:01 the Blue Jackets scored again. The Rangers got two more power play opportunities and failed to convert on both. which didn’t help any when the Blue Jackets widened their lead to two with a goal at the 16:47 mark. Despite out shooting the Blue Jackets 15-10, the Rangers were down two goals going into the intermission.

Third Period:

With a huge task in front of them, The Rangers’ big man got them back into the game with his second goal in as many games. Brian Boyle ripped a wrister past Bobrovsky after only 4:53 had passed in the period. The team showed signs of life again! When the Blue Jackets took a delay of game penalty to give the Rangers yet another power play chance after only 6:38 in the period. I don’t know what happened to Nash but all of the sudden he came to play! Most likely he was thinking about wanting to be on the Team Canada roster as it is announced tomorrow. It took Nash 17 seconds to get his second power play goal of the game. This was also the tying goal. The teams continued their battle despite having another power play at the 17:00 mark the game ended with the teams tied and the Rangers being out shot 11-13.

Over Time:

The Rangers went on the defensive a bit but were strong. Derek Stepan was called for another horrible penalty. Remember when Kreider got a penalty because two guys ran into each other behind him? Well Stepan was standing still in the neutral zone and a guy skated backwards into him, apparently that requires a player to move out of the way… right. So The Rangers went down a man in the overtime period and Boyle led the kill beautifully. There were no goals scored and the Blue Jackets led with six shots to the Rangers’ one.

Shoot out:

Short and not so sweet, but what do you expect when you have guys on the team who know how to beat your goalie?

Mats Zuccarello– denied

Mark Letestu– scores

Nash- denied

Ryan Johnasen- scores

Here’s the breakdown on the game:

Three Stars:

3rd: Letestu

2nd: Nash

1st: Dubinsky

Had the Rangers won the game Boyle would have been my 1st star easily

The Rangers play again on Wednesday January 8 in Chicago.