Rangers solid in 5-3 win over Columbus

The New York Rangers played a compete hockey game and beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 5-3 in a win that showed that the rest and practice this week did the team some good.  They overcame a sloppy start to pour in three goals in just over a minute in the second period.  There were some anxious moments in the third period when Igor Shesterkin had to leave for the concussion protocol, but this was a game that the Rangers didn’t need their goalie to stand on his head to win.

The Blueshirts should petition the NHL to play the Blue Jackets all the time.  They have now scored nine of their 38 goals against Columbus. That’s 24% of their total goals scored this season.  The Rangers improved their record to 8-3-3 and the good news is Met Division rivals Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and New Jersey all lost Saturday with only Carolina victorious.

Despite all of the early season angst, the Rangers are third in the Met Division with 19 points, three points out of first place and are sixth overall in the NHL.  Yes, if only they had been able to hold those leads in Vancouver and Edmonton.  We know.

The best news for the Rangers is that they actually had 41 shots on goal, the first time that they have topped the 40 shot mark. Let’s not worry about the fact that the Blue Jackets had 36 shots.  The Rangers finished with 58 shot attempts to 62 for Columbus.

The Rangers played undisciplined hockey in the first period, taking two penalties that took all of the flow out of their game  Jakub Voracek scored on the second power play and late in the period the Blueshirts were trailing 1-0.   With about five minutes left the fourth line had a good shift in the offensive zone and from that point on New York allowed only two shots and had the better of the play and Artemi Panarin scored to knot the game.

Seven minutes into the second period Eric Robinson of Columbus scored a goal that Shesterkin should have stopped to give the Blue Jackets the lead again and that’s when the Rangers stepped up.  Chris Kreider scored 43 seconds later off a great rush by Jacob Trouba.

36 seconds later it was Panarin with his second goal off a feed from Ryan Strome.

The Rangers made it three goals in 63 seconds just 27 seconds later.  It was Trouba after a slick pass from Julien Gauthier set up Barclay Goodrow to feed the breaking Trouba.

The Blueshirts opened the third period on the power play and it took all of 52 seconds for Chris Kreider to get his second goal of the game.

There was some concern when Igor Shesterkin left the game with 6:45 left after Alexandre Texier barrelled into him from behind.  After the game, Coach Gerard Gallant confirmed that it was the concussion protocol that forced him out of the game and he would have been able to return if needed.  Alexandar Georgiev came in and the Rangers allowed only two shots over the rest of the game as they played a tight defensive game in front of their back up goalie.

Gerard Gallant was pleased with the effort.  He conceded that the first period was “sloppy,” but not after that. “I thought we played the exact way I want us to play. We controlled the puck in their zone. We did lots of cycling down low. We got the defensemen involved in the cycles and we sort took over the game from the second period on.”

The key to the strong defense was the work in the offensive zone.  Gallant explained why. “I thought everybody played to their role.  They did a great job.  We maintained pressure in the offensive zone. If we’re gonna be a successful team, that’s how we have to play in the offensive zone.  Tonight it worked real well for us, hopefully it will carry into tomorrow’s game.”

Here’s a five minutes video recap of the highlights.

The Blueshirts will need their “A” game if they want to beat the Devils who have been playing very well despite today’s loss to the Bruins.