Blue Jackets fall to Rangers in tight game – The Hockey Writers Latest news, analysis and more

The Columbus Blue Jackets and New York Rangers each looked to extend their winning streaks to three games. A shootout was needed to ultimately determine the winner.

Vincent Trocheck and JT Miller scored in the shootout, with Miller being the pick-up winner the Rangers to a 2-1 victory over the Blue Jackets on Saturday evening. Kirill Marchenko scored the lone shootout goal for the Blue Jackets, but it wasn’t enough.

The story of this game was two teams not giving each other an inch as the game progressed.

Summary of the game

No goals were scored in the first period. After a slow start, the match got going again thanks to a penalty attempt.

Miles Wood was taken down during an escape. There was some concern as he lay on the ice in pain for more than a minute. He was able to get up under his own power and was able to attempt the penalty shot. Rangers goalkeeper Igor Shesterkin stopped it.

From then on, the Rangers slowly started to take over. Shots on target in the first were 10-4 Rangers. That momentum continued into the second period.

With defenseman Damon Severson in the box, Mika Zibanejad scored on the power play to make it 1-0 for Rangers. His first shot was stopped by Blue Jackets goalie Jet Greaves. But then Zibanejad converted the rebound.

Then it was the Rangers’ turn to commit a penalty. They were caught with too many men on the ice. That resulted in the Blue Jackets scoring on the power play thanks to Dmitri Voronkov. Zach Werenski’s shot was saved by Shesterkin. Voronkov and his long reach scored on the rebound.

With an assist on Voronkov’s goal, Kirill Marchenko extended his current points streak to 11 games. He is just two games shy of a franchise record of 13.

Then the moment of the night happened. Just 37 seconds after Voronkov’s goal, Sam Carrick and Mathieu Olivier dropped the gloves. Both players had shots. Carrick went down at the end. Both benches were set ablaze as the fighters headed to the locker room.

The second period ended 1-1. The Rangers had a 15-12 shot advantage in the second period and held a 25-16 lead after 40 minutes.

But it was the Olivier fight that allowed the Blue Jackets to smooth things over. As head coach Dean Evason said after the game, “number 24” allowed them to get back at it.

In the third period both teams played a tight control game. They didn’t allow an inch of distance from each other. As the period progressed, it became clear that both teams wanted to gain a point. Mission accomplished.

Overtime didn’t solve anything. A firefight was necessary. It was the Ranger’s first shootout with Mike Sullivan as head coach.

Miller’s goal set up the shootout for the Rangers and the extra point. The Blue Jackets were happy to get a point out of this game knowing how tight things were.

Shesterkin stopped 24 of 25 to earn the win. Greaves stopped 31 of 32 in the shootout loss.

The Blue Jackets have Sunday off before getting ready for Monday’s game against the Montreal Canadiens. The Rangers will host the Detroit Red Wings on Sunday night in the second half of back-to-back games.