Rangers move into second wild card in East by shutting down Blue Jackets in 4-0 victory
The New York Rangers headed home on Saturday night holding a playoff berth after coming up big in their biggest game so far this season, a 4-0 victory against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Igor Shesterkin got plenty of help from his teammates and had to make just 21 saves, few of them difficult, in his fifth shutout of the season. The Rangers got two third-period goals by Vincent Trocheck, while Alexis Lafreniere and Artemi Panarin each had a goal and an assist.
New York (33-28-6) leap-frogged the Jackets for the second wild-card berth in the Eastern Conference — the Montreal Canadiens also moved ahead of Columbus with a 3-1 home win against the Florida Panthers and are within one point of the Rangers with a game in hand. The Blueshirts also assured themselves of winning the season series against Columbus by beating the Blue Jackets for the third time in four games — and avenging the one loss, a 7-3 drubbing at Madison Square Garden last Sunday.
Coach Peter Laviolette isn’t ready to print playoff tickets yet.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do,” he said. “There are still teams that are right there. This thing juggles. Other teams got a game in hand on us. None of that matters. We talked about it, we’re in charge of what we do. We’re in complete charge of winning hockey games and don’t have to look anywhere else.
“We’ve just got to be responsible for ourselves right now.”
The Blue Jackets were shut out for the second straight game, both at home. Columbus lost 4-0 to the Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday.
The Rangers got a boost from the return of their best defenseman, Adam Fox, who missed the previous eight games with an upper-body injury sustained against the New York Islanders on Feb. 25. Fox had one assist and finished plus-2.
It was a low-event game for both sides, but Columbus paid dearly for an early misplay by backup goaltender Daniil Tarasov that led to Lafreniere’s goal 1:43 into the game. Tarasov played because starter Elvis Merzlikins was with his wife, who was set to give birth.
Lafreniere’s goal forced Columbus to chase the game for the final 58-plus minutes, and the Blue Jackets rarely were able to mount sustained pressure. Columbus had 57 shot attempts – but 20 were blocked and 16 missed the net.
“It was a great team effort,” Fox said.
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New York Rangers 4 – Columbus Blue Jackets 0
The Blue Jackets dominated the first half of the first period, but Tarasov’s gaffe helped the Rangers take an early lead.
Mika Zibanejad pressured Jackets defenseman Damon Severson as the puck went behind his own net. For some reason, Tarasov decided to go out and try to play the puck, leaving the net wide open. Zibanejad got there first and sent a pass to the front of the net, where Lafreniere had a backhand tap-in for a 1-0 lead. It was Lafreniere’s first goal in 15 games.
“That’s the start that you want,” Zibanejad told MSG Networks between periods.
The Jackets got the game’s first power play when J.T. Miller was sent off for slashing at 4:55 but did nothing with it. Shesterkin made his first big save just before the eight-minute mark when he robbed defenseman Zach Werenski from close in. He was sharp the rest of the way in the opening 20 minutes, stopping all nine Columbus shots. The Rangers managed just three shots against Tarasov in the remainder of the period after Lafreniere’s goal.
Will Cuylle had an excellent chance 33 seconds into the second period, but Tarasov denied him from the left circle. The Rangers held Columbus without a shot until 6:47, when Shesterkin stopped Luke Kunin’s deflection.
Dmitri Voronkov had the best chance to tie the game shortly after when he was left alone in the slot and picked up a deflected puck, only to deke his way past Shesterkin but hit the left post.
The Rangers killed another penalty after Zac Jones was called for holding at 9:12, holding Columbus without a shot on goal, before Panarin doubled the lead at 11:36. The Rangers’ leading scorer walked out of the left corner into the circle, then whipped a shot through a screen and past Tarasov.
The goal extended Panarin’s point streak to eight games and gave him a team-high 70 points, the fifth time he’s reached that level since joining the Rangers in 2019 – the only time he missed was the Covid-shortened 2020-21 season.
New York finally got a power play when Kirill Marchenko was sent off for tripping at 17:01. Tarasov kept it a two-goal game with a brilliant save on Zibanejad and an even bigger stop on Chris Kreider’s rebound try. The Rangers went off at intermission with a 2-0 lead, with each team managing just 15 shots on goal through 40 minutes.
Columbus pressed the action during the early stages of the third period, but the Rangers’ defense kept the Jackets to the outside and limited them to one shot through the first nine minutes – more than compensating for the fact that the Rangers themselves had none.
Trocheck put the game away with 5:22 remaining when he finished off a 2-on-1 by beating Tarasov from the right circle after a superb pass from Panarin. Cuylle started the play by intercepting a pass in the neutral zone and springing Panarin.
Trocheck hit the empty net with 3:19 left after Columbus pulled Tarasov when Braden Schneider was called for tripping at 16:01. It was the Rangers’ NHL-leading 14th shorthanded goal.
The Rangers won’t have much time to enjoy the win. They hopped on a plane and returned to New York for a Sunday night showdown with the Edmonton Oilers at Madison Square Garden.
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