The New York Rangers did everything very well in a 4-0 shutout over the Columbus Blue Jackets, washing away the bad taste left from their last loss to Calgary. They got excellent goaltending from igor Shesterkin, timely scoring and they won the special teams battle. It was a textbook win for the Rangers as they embark on another long road trip.
They got a scolding from the coach on Tuesday and it showed in this game. Coach Gerard Gallant said that the big difference was how they “managed the puck.” He explained what he meant, saying “I don’t think we turned it over in the neutral zone as much as we did in the prior game, our forecheck was a lot better…we had 20 guys ready to play tonight.”
The Blue Jackets came out hard, with five of the first six shots in the first two and a half minutes. Igor Shesterkin had to be really sharp and held the Rangers in the game until they could start to take over.
Blue Jackets goalie Elvis Merzlikins came into the game as one of the NHL’s hottest goalies and it looked like the Rangers wouldn’t get on by him. It took 12:29, but the Rangers took the lead on a goal by Ryan Strome, set up by Panarin on a feed from Nils Lundkvist for his first NHL point.
Stromer! 🚨 pic.twitter.com/jnp9ubLTS9
— Rangers on MSG (@RangersMSGN) October 29, 2021
Three minutes later it became the Adam Fox show as he made an absolutely brilliant play to set up Alexis Lafrenière.
A little more from Laffy pic.twitter.com/N11hOqhQ3R
— Rangers on MSG (@RangersMSGN) October 29, 2021
After a scoreless second period, the power play came alive with two Chris Kreider goals, both set up by Fox and Panarin. Both goals were deflections like Kreider’s other four goals. Five of Kreider’s six goals have come on the power play.
Let's do that hockey pic.twitter.com/VTTJ4JDDyZ
— Rangers on MSG (@RangersMSGN) October 30, 2021
The Blue Jackets pushed in the third period, but the Rangers played a solid, intelligent game and the shutout was really never in doubt even when the Rangers took a penalty with just 3:39 left in the game.
Here’s a five minute video recap of the game.
It was a win the Rangers really needed, as it was their first at home and they are about to go one a very tough four game road trip with games in the Pacific Northwest and Alberta, Canada.