New York Rangers Shock Nationwide Arena With Late Period Heroics

Well, it certainly didn’t start out pretty, but the game ended beautifully for the New York Rangers.

After being down one goal to a very tough Columbus Blue Jackets squad, the Boys proved once again to never count them out, a positive carryover from last season.

Within a span of 1:17 seconds, the Rangers scored not one, not two, but three goals to win by two.

However, the road to the epic closure would prove to be a tough against the blue jackets, who were out to make a statement that they were not going to miss the postseason party this year. Right from the opening puck drop, Columbus took it took the Rangers, finishing checks, banging bodies, trying to make life tough on the ice.

The fans at Nationwide Arena were feeding off that, and responded to every Ranger that went down.

The game was scoreless, till the last minute. That’s when

scored his first goal since his head injury last season, and gave the Rangers the 1-0 lead, off a quick backhand that caught Blue Jackets goalie

off guard.

Almost mid-way through the second, Columbus would finally answer back with a goal of their own off the stick of Cam Atkinson, after getting a feed from former Rangers Brandon Dubinsky. He took advantage of a bad turnover from current Rangers Derick Brassard, who seemed not himself for most of the game, in his own zone.

New York Rangers

They would add on one more goal, by way of their power play. The new Blue Jacket Brandon Saad would score the go-ahead goal, after Rangers captain was called for delay of game after flipping the puck into the crowd.

After the goal, you could feel the momentum swing in their favor. The fans grew with excitement at the prospect of beating the last season’s division champions and President’s Trophy recipients.

However, the Rangers had a few surprises up their sleeve in the form of scoring. Taken a page from the Minnesota Wild’s Thursday Night comeback in Colorado, the Rangers did so in turn.

, who has been invaluable these past two games with his even strength and penalty kill play, came through again. He scored his second career goal, in just his second NHL game. That third line of him,

, and

is one to watch out for.

Read More About the Third Line: Rangers Three-Headed Monster?

After the game was tied, you could feel the hush come over the crowd. But, the Rangers weren’t done yet.

Just :17 later, last year’s rookie surprise Kevin Hayes scored his first goal of the season. It seemed that Hayes was still adjusting to his RW position, and looked to be out of sorts from Wednesday’s victory in Chicago. However, last night he looked strong as the game wore on and may have finally felt more comfortable in his new role. Credit alternate captains Derek Stepan and Dan Girardi with the helpers.

Then, with less than two minutes left, the Rangers got their third goal of the period, fourth of the game. How fitting the game’s scoring began and ended with Zuccarello.

Henrik Lundqvist was his usual, King-like form, as he turned away 31 of 33 shots faced. As he has proven in the past, it’s hard to beat your opponent when you have an elite goalie stuffing every chance you get.

Especially in the first 20 minutes, Lundqvist had to come up big for his team, facing a shot deficit of 6-1. And the Blue Jackets poured it on at the beginning, coming wave after wave.

The Penalty Kill unit was another standout tonight. They went four-for-five being down a man, killing off three power plays in the second period.

Hopefully, they were treated to dinner by the rest of the team cause they deserved it.

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