Former Rangers continue to haunt the current squad, as John Tortorella and the Blue Jackets shut out the Blueshirts in Ohio.
- New York Rangers 0 (9-9-2) 20 Points
- Columbus Blue Jackets 2 (12-7-1) 25 Points
- NYR Goals: None
- Columbus Goals: Zach Werenski, Artemi Panarin
- NHL, Final, Box Score
- Nationwide Arena, Columbus, Ohio
The New York Rangers couldn’t find the answer to the riddle by the name of Sergei Bobrovsky and the two goals scored by Columbus were enough for the Blue Jackets to get the win. The Rangers and Jackets played through a scoreless first period where both goalies were tested.
It wasn’t until almost the middle of the second frame where young defensive sensation Zach Werenski broke the ice with a one-timer from the hash marks that beat Lundqvist high to the glove side.
It was a standard 3v2 rush for the Jackets but the Rangers had good backchecking. The breakdowns started to happen when all five Rangers decided to drop to their knees instead of playing actual defense. Former Ranger Brandon Dubinsky made a great toe drag around David Desharnais. The puck found it’s way to Werenski who rifled the shot up high for the lead.
The second Blue Jacket goal was a power-play goal, but quite simply, a brutal effort by Kevin Hayes led to the Artemi Panarin rocket. Ryan McDonagh made a great defensive play and shoveled the puck to Hayes. But Hayes was unable to clear initially and decided to attempt a 180 sweep of the puck.
Instead, he batted the puck right into the middle of the ice. Panarin collected the puck in the high slot and rifled a slap shot high to Lundqvist’s glove side. Lundqvist was able to get a piece but it wasn’t enough off of that bomb.
All in all a solid yet unspectacular effort from the Blueshirts. They fired a ton of shots on net and defended relatively well, however not getting any run support for Lundqvist obviously proved costly. The Rangers will get a chance to right the ship on Sunday against the Ottawa Senators back at the Garden.