COLUMBUS, Ohio – After scoring 13 goals in their previous two games, the Rangers had to play a tighter brand of hockey in a fists-flying, low-scoring affair against the Blue Jackets on Saturday night at Nationwide Arena.
Defense and goaltending, not goal-scoring, was the story of this one, which wasn’t settled until a shootout, which the Rangers dominated to take a 2-1 victory.
Igor Shesterkin, who saved a penalty shot attempt in the first period, stopped the first two Blue Jackets in the shootout. Vincent Trocheck beat Jet Greaves on the Rangers’ second attempt.
Kirill Marchenko tied it for the Blue Jackets, but J.T. Miller ended the game by going high to give the Rangers four points on a two-game road trip. It was the Rangers’ sixth straight road victory.
Shesterkin had 24 saves for the Rangers. Greaves stopped 31 shots for Columbus. Both made huge saves in overtime on would-be game-enders.
The Rangers-Blue Jackets clash was not the biggest game in town. No. 1 Ohio State was hosting UCLA at the same time about 2½ miles away on Woody Hayes Drive, and Ohio’s capital city was crammed all day with exuberant Buckeyes fans.
The highlight of a scoreless first period came with 3:41 left when Shesterkin stopped Miles Wood on a wide-angle penalty shot. Wood had been slashed on the right arm by Taylor Raddish, crashed into the goalpost and went hard into the end boards, leading to the penalty shot.
Saturday’s opening period was a far cry from the Rangers’ last game on Wednesday at Tampa Bay. The Rangers scored on their first three shots and four of their first five in a 7-3 win over the Lightning. The Rangers gave up three goals in a wild first period.
On Saturday, the Rangers outshot Columbus 10-4 in the first and had taken the first seven shots of the second period when the Blue Jackets’ Damon Severson tripped Alexis Lafreniere for the game’s first power play 4:12 into the period.
The Rangers’ power play produced the game’s first goal: Mika Zibanejad jammed in a rebound past Greaves at 5:42. The Rangers, who had controlled play since the midpoint of the opening period, finally had a goal on Zibanejad’s sixth of the season.
Then things got chippy! Columbus tough guy Mathieu Olivier tried to goad Braden Schneider into a fight, though Schneider would have none of it. A few minutes later, Urho Vaakanainen was called for cross-checking, which led to a multi-player scrum along the end boards.
But the Blue Jackets’ power play lasted all of 20 seconds. Columbus’ Dmitri Voronkov was called for interference and the teams played 4-on-4.
With six minutes left in the period, the Rangers were called for too many men on the ice. The unforced error led to a power-play goal by Voronkov and it was 1-1.
Then, a fight: Olivier vs. Sam Carrick. The two traded blows before Olivier staggered Carrick with a right to end it. And the period ended with another scrum featuring a disagreement between Lafrenière and Cole Sillinger.
The Rangers had scored 13 goals in previous two games (both wins) with an at times free-wheeling approach that coach Mike Sullivan has enjoyed – to a point.
“There’s inherent risk in playmaking, right?” Sullivan said after practice on Friday in Brandon, Florida. “There’s inherent risk in playmaking. So for sure, we are going to give our best players the latitude to act on their instincts. I look at it as my job is to identify when the risk becomes too great, when it turns into reckless hockey. We don’t want to play reckless hockey because we can’t win that way. Can’t win consistently.”
Notes & quotes: D Will Borgen did not play because of an upper-body injury. Borgen, who was scratched after he went through pregame warmups, had played in 285 consecutive games. Matthew Robertson replaced him . . . The Rangers entered with an 8-1-1 record on the road, their best 10-game start on the road in franchise history.
Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.