The Rangers got one last win before the break in game action for the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament, but it can’t exactly be classified as going out on a high note.
Because even after taking a 4-3 win over the Blue Jackets on Saturday night at Nationwide Arena, the Blueshirts still lost four of their final seven games and will certainly have their work cut out for them in a 27-game sprint to the regular-season finish line when they return from the nearly two-week pause.
Will Cuylle scored both of the Rangers’ third-period goals to secure the victory, with the last one coming with just 1:39 left in regulation.
Pouncing on a free puck off a failed clearing attempt by Columbus, Cuylle blasted his 15th goal of the season to secure the victory.
Mika Zibanejad posted a two-point effort in his return to center in the loss, giving the Swede eight points (two goals, six assists) in the past five games.
A laser shot from the 31-year-old tied the game at two-all for the Rangers at the 6:38 mark of the second period, but the Rangers’ lingering issues defending the rush continued to bite them.
Columbus forward James van Riemsdyk scored on an essentially empty net after a tic-tac-toe passing sequence in transition gave the Blue Jackets a 3-2 lead later in the middle frame.
It counted as the Rangers’ seventh straight game of trailing going into the third period.
The Rangers were disappointed with their third-period effort on Friday, and so Saturday night saw a much better one. Cuylle managed to even the score for a third time less than two minutes into the final 20, when the 23-year-old whipped the puck in through traffic from long range during a delayed penalty.
Head coach Peter Laviolette emphasized the importance of a fast start during his pregame availability, and the Rangers delivered at first.
In his first game back in the lineup after serving as a healthy scratch in the previous four, Arthur Kaliyev opened up the scoring for the Rangers on a sweet wraparound goal just under two minutes into the game.
The Blue Jackets, however, took advantage of the disorder in the Rangers zone. Scoring twice in the span of less than a minute, Columbus was able to take a one-goal lead into the first intermission.
After Kent Johnson tied it up off a sharp angle at the 14:31 mark, Justin Danforth got to the net first as the Rangers’ leisurely back-check — particularly from Alexis Lafreniere — allowed for former Ranger Jack Johnson to feed the Blue Jackets wing in front for the 2-1 score.
