Recap: Rangers Fall Short in 5-3 Loss to Columbus

Despite a quick start and controlling play for half the game, the Rangers picked up their first loss of the season in what was quite a wild night involving three disallowed goals.

A couple of last minute line-up changes were announced leading up to puck drop as Ryan Lindgren was out with an upper-body injury and Jimmy Vesey would return in place of Tyler Pitlick. Zac Jones would make his season debut in Lindgren’s absence.

1st Period:

The Rangers got off to another good start in this one and on their first shift of the night, the fourth line went to work moving the puck to the defensemen at the point. Erik Gustafsson would find his first career goal as a New York Ranger after letting a shot go that took a bounce off a skate to give the Rangers a 1-0 lead 50 seconds into the game.

Filip Chytil almost put the Rangers up by two about four minutes later, however it was waved off following a coaches challenge from Columbus as the play was ruled offside. Lafrenière had turned his back to the boards in order to make the pass across the zone, which left his feet crossing the blue line before the puck did. Despite the goal not counting, it was a beautiful passing play from that second line that really seems to be clicking early on.

The Rangers were continuing to control play as Columbus went close to ten minutes without a shot on goal. Alas, as we approached the midway point of the period, a Braden Schneider pass meant for Zac Jones bounced over his stick and was picked up by Kirill Marchenko. His shot would redirect off the blade of Johnny Gaudreau’s stick and Boone Jenner would put the loose puck away to knot this one up at one.

The Rangers once again came close to adding a second goal to their side of the scoreboard as Mika Zibanjead intercepted a zone clearing attempt and beat Elvis Merzlikins with a wrist shot. Once again, the play was challenged for offsides and sure enough, the goal was overturned.. Only the Rangers, right?

In addition to staying onsides, the Rangers were struggling quite a bit with turnovers early on. Following a significant one in the defensive zone, Patrik Laine let a shot go off the blocker of Igor Shesterkin that bounced up and over the Rangers netminder towards the back of the net. Jacob Trouba made a brilliant diving play to get a stick on the rolling puck that was initially ruled a goal but was reviewed and determined an inconclusive goal.

The Rangers took the first penalty of the night with about four minutes to go in the opening period as Adam Fox tripped up Liam Foudy in the defensive zone. As the man advantage was winding down, the Jackets were able to set up and began moving the puck very well. A shot from Johnny Gaudreau at the point was deflected by Boone Jenner for his second of the night to give Columbus a 2-1 lead. Despite a penalty from Mathieu Olivier that gave the Rangers their first power play attempt, the Jackets would take that 2-1 lead to intermission, out-shooting the Rangers 9-8.

2nd Period:

The Blue Jackets killed what little time was left on the Rangers power play and controlled possession through the first couple minutes of the second. As the period went on, the Rangers became more involved but weren’t sustaining the same kind of pressure they were in the early parts of the first period. Shesterkin came up with a couple of strong saves, the players had a small handful of scoring chances, yet the Blue Jackets were still finding ways to hold them off. They played more physical and more aggressive which made it difficult for the Rangers to take away the neutral zone as well as they did in Buffalo.

Turnovers were quickly becoming a storyline for the Rangers and not a good one. With 7:30 to go in the second, a Kaapo Kakko turnover led to Columbus going the other way with it and a Jake Bean shot deflected off Boone Jenner, giving him a natural hat-trick and giving the Jackets a 3-1 lead.

About a minute later the Rangers struggled to clear their own zone and Patrik Laine passed it to David Jirieck at the slot who beat Shesterkin for his first career goal in his fifth NHL appearance.

Despite being down in the game 4-1, it felt like the Rangers were one bounce away from getting right back in the running. They were on top of the shot count after two at 25-19 and showed some sparks of offense heading into the third.

3rd Period:

The final period of the night would begin with a twist as Elvis Merzlikins would be replaced by Spencer Martin in Columbus’ net. It was later announced that Merzlikins was questionable to return due to illness.

The third period was all New York as they held the Blue Jackets to two shots on goal, one of which being their final goal of the night. The Rangers had nearly double the shot attempts as they did shots on goal and for well over half the period, Columbus couldn’t even sniff the Rangers zone let alone get the puck on net. Vincent Trocheck drew a penalty after practically seven straight minutes of time spent in Columbus’ zone. Despite the advantage, the Rangers couldn’t get much done but not long after, Will Cuylle found the back of the net for his first career goal.

Nearly sixteen minutes into the third, the Jackets finally got a shot on goal and of course, it came on a 2-on-1 that Shesterkin didn’t stand a chance on. Justin Danforth made it 5-2 which pretty much put an end to any chance at a comeback for the Rangers. Peter Laviolette would pull Shesterkin for the extra attacker and called a timeout to rest his top players following a penalty call on Damon Severson. Chris Kreider would capitalize on the 6-on-4 but it was too little too late.

Finally tally for shots on goal would be 42-21 New York. The Rangers were 58% on face-offs, went 1/3 on the power play and 0/1 on the penalty kill . The narrative on blocking shots certainly flipped as Columbus beat them 27-12 in that department, while out-hitting the Rangers and forced countless turnovers throughout the night.

The Blueshirts are back at it for their home opener on Monday Night against the Arizona Coyotes. As much as they would’ve liked to head home 2-0, hopefully the loss will help light a fire under them in their first outing on Garden ice.