COLUMBUS, Ohio \u2014 This was a game that had serious playoff implications for multiple teams in the Rangers division.<\/p>\n
A Blueshirts win would\u2019ve maintained the Islanders\u2019 sole ownership of third place in the Metropolitan Division, but the team\u2019s 6-3 loss to the Blue Jackets on Thursday night pushed Columbus into a points tie with their cross-state rivals.<\/p>\n
The Blue Jackets continue their push to make the playoffs and end the organization\u2019s five-year postseason drought, extending their point streak to 11 straight games with the win.<\/p>\n
In March, the Rangers\u2019 62.5 penalty kill percentage entering Thursday\u2019s game was the worst in the NHL.<\/p>\n
Naturally, Vladislav Gavrikov was called for hooking just 45 seconds into the game. <\/p>\n
Boone Jenner celebrates a goal during the Blue Jackets\u2019 6-3 win over the Rangers on March 19, 2026 in Columbus, Ohio. Imagn Images<\/p>\n
Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin came up with seven saves on the Blue Jackets power play, on the way to 31 total on the night, but it was indicative of how much the group has been struggling while shorthanded.<\/p>\n
Tye Kartye was questionably called for high sticking just over two minutes later to send the Rangers back on the PK. <\/p>\n
The laws of the puck, however, balanced out.<\/p>\n
Vincent Trocheck forced a Zach Werenski turnover at the blue line before scoring on a shorthanded breakaway for the 1-0 lead.<\/p>\n
The puck began to really bounce in Columbus\u2019 favor as they continued to outwork the visitors.<\/p>\n
One squeezed out of a scrum right to the stick of Isac Lundestr\u00f6m in the slot for the tie score.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Another bounced off the head of Braden Schneider in front of the net and over Shesterkin into the cage.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s just been that kind of season for the Rangers, who have rarely dictated the way games have gone this season.<\/p>\n
Igor Shesterkin makes a save as Matthew Robertson defends during the Rangers\u2019 March 19 loss. Imagn Images<\/p>\n
While Mika Zibanejad scored relatively early in the second period to even the score at two-all, the Blue Jackets pulled away by two goals by the second intermission.<\/p>\n
Captain Boone Jenner followed up on his own rebound before Adam Fantilli redirected a Werenski shot on the power play.<\/p>\n
Columbus ultimately finished 1-for-5 with the man-advantage.<\/p>\n
Gabe Perreault defends during the Rangers\u2019 March 19 loss to the Blue Jackets. NHLI via Getty Images<\/p>\n
The Rangers managed to cut it to one on a power play they earned at the end of the second period, when Alexis Lafreni\u00e8re backhand tipped an Adam Fox shot from the top of the zone for the 4-3 score.<\/p>\n
As a result, Lafreni\u00e8re reached the 20-goal benchmark for just the second time over his six seasons with the Rangers.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRead the expert take on the Blueshirts\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Inside the Rangers, a weekly Sports+ exclusive.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
A surplus of penalties in the third period prevented either team from gaining much traction in the final 20 minutes.<\/p>\n
During four-on-four play, however, Damon Severson cleaned up a rebound in front to regain the two-goal lead for Columbus.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"COLUMBUS, Ohio \u2014 This was a game that had serious playoff implications for multiple teams in the Rangers…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":512632,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5111],"tags":[230,5,2273,160,3328,35,5190,5193,4,36,43],"class_list":{"0":"post-512631","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-rangers","8":"tag-columbus-blue-jackets","9":"tag-hockey","10":"tag-igor-shesterkin","11":"tag-mika-zibanejad","12":"tag-new-york","13":"tag-new-york-rangers","14":"tag-newyork","15":"tag-newyorkrangers","16":"tag-nhl","17":"tag-rangers","18":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116259642714515516","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512631","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=512631"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512631\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/512632"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=512631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=512631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=512631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}