New York Rangers Defeat Blue Jackets with SHG

New York Rangers Win Third Straight in Staal’s Debut

The New York Rangers won their third game in a row as they defeated the Columbus Blue Jackets last night by a score of 1-2. It was a close contest for every second of the 60 minutes.

The New York Rangers took a 1-0 lead in the first thanks to Mats Zuccarello who recorded his 21st goal of the season off of a Dan Boyle assist.

The Rangers maintained their lead up until the third period when Antti Raanta gave up his only goal of the night to Cam Atkinson who scored off of his own rebound, which tied the game up at one a piece. With 2:48 left in the game, the New York Rangers were on a penalty kill when Ryan McDonough tossed the puck towards the Blue Jackets blue line where it was then collected by Stepan who proceeded to score on the short handed opportunity.

Stapan’s go-ahead goal gave the Rangers a 1-2 lead. From there, Raanta held off the Blue Jackets and made an amazing game winning save with one second left on the clock.

Raanta played lights out last night as he recorded 26 saves, most of which came in the first period when the Blue Jackets out shot the Rangers 13-8. Raanta recorded his sixth win of the season and lead the Rangers to their 13th win in 18 games.

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The New York Rangers are looking more and more like a team that could go deep into the playoffs and potentially become a real Cup contender. Especially since the acquisition of Eric Staal shows that the Blueshirts front office has yet again moved all in and will play out the remainder of the season with the mind set that this year will be the year the Cup comes back to MSG.

Even though Eric Staal did not play his best game last night, it is clear that Rangers fans are happy with the pick up as the MSG faithful cheered for Staal every time he possessed the puck. New York Rangers head coach, Alain Vigneault, also seems pleased with the move as he explained to the media that it is important to give Staal time to adapt to his new environment.

"”Every time you add a new piece, you change the dynamics of the group. You got a guy here who comes in and was a captain. He is going to help our leadership group, and we just need to give him a little bit of time to get used to the environment.”"

Next: Adding Staal is Impact Move

Last nights win marks the New York Rangers third in a row. The team will now play their next two games on the road against two division rivals. First they will head to Pittsburgh to take on Sid and company, then to Washington D.C. to play the Capitals. Each game can be considered playoff previews and it will be interesting to see how Eric Staal grows into his new role during this stretch.