Anything can happen on any given night with any NHL team, but there are games that sometimes fall under the should-win category — and Sunday’s against the Blue Jackets may have been one of those for the Rangers.
The Rangers, whose previous game was on Thursday, fell 5-1 to a Columbus team that was playing on the second night of a back-to-back with their rookie backup goaltender in net at Madison Square Garden. The Blue Jackets’ win also was their first on the road this season.
Columbus jumped out to a 3-0 lead less than halfway through the game on goals from Zach Werenski, Andrew Peeke and Yegor Chinakhov. The Rangers’ offense has cooled off since it outscored opponents, 17-12, through the season’s first four games, which was a testament to their scoring prowess making up for some loose defense.
Head coach Gerard Gallant even sent out a unit featuring Artemi Panarin, Mika Zibanejad and Kaapo Kakko, which logged 4:43 of ice time together in the loss, to try and spark something. But the Rangers haven’t been as decisive with the puck lately, and it seemingly disrupted the offensive groove they had going to start the season.
The Rangers did lose Filip Chytil early in the first period and had to skate with 11 forwards for the majority of the game, after the third-line center took an elbow to the head from Blue Jackets forward Cole Sillinger. That jumbled up the lines and likely played a role in the Rangers’ inability to get much rolling offensively.
It was also far from goalie Jaroslav Halak’s best showing at the Garden. The Rangers backup netminder gave up five goals on 22 shots to fall to 0-2 on the season. The one goal he’ll probably want back came on Peeke’s 2-0 tally just under two minutes into the middle frame, when the shot just squeaked under Halak’s arm.
Blue Jackets forwards Eric Robinson and Kent Johnson then each scored in the finale frame.
Panarin, however, extended his scoring streak and put the Rangers on the board later in the middle frame. In the final seconds of five-on-three play, with two Blue Jackets in the penalty box, Panarin scored from between the circles to cut the deficit to two.
The star winger’s four goals and eight assists through six games not only moved him into first place in the league in points, but it also marked the longest season-opening point streak by a Ranger since Marian Gaborik went eight games during the 2009-10 season.
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