The Rangers rebounded from poor performance against the Canadiens to post a solid 3-1 win over the Blue Jackets. Jaroslav Halak got the start in net and was strong in the first and in the third, when needed, to notch his fourth straight win. New York is off until Thursday when they face Boston at home followed by a match at MSG on Monday against a suddenly hot Florida team.
Game recap:
Lines:
Lafrenière -Zibanejad-Kakko
Panarin-Trocheck-Vesey
Kravtsov-Chytil-Goodrow
Blais-Leschyshyn-Brodzinski
Lindgren-Fox
Miller-Trouba
Harpur-Schneider
Halák
Shesterkin
Scratches: Kreider (upper body), Hajek, Carpenter
IR: Gauthier (upper body)
A few thoughts:
1)
Halak got the nod after Igor Shesterkin started Sunday. He made 24 saves, but several big ones came early in the game, before New York took the lead, and in the third after Columbus scored their lone tally. With the goalie pulled, the Blue Jackets put inordinate pressure on the Blueshirts, but Halak made two big saves and Mika Zibanejad contributed three great defensive plays. Then after Jacob Trouba took a penalty, Ryan Lindgren blocked three shots to keep the score at 3-1. But it was Halak who was a steady presence between the pipes.
2)
Zibanejad notched his 20th goal of the season to give the Rangers a lead they never relinquished. Kaapo Kakko made the play, waiting and waiting and waiting patiently with the puck with three Blue Jackets around him, then finding Zib at the blue line with a clear path to the offensive zone. Zib blasted the puck off the rush past Elvis Merzlikins for the tally.
That goal made the Rangers' No. 1 center the sixth player in franchise history to record 20-plus goals in six-straight seasons, joining Jean Ratelle, Andy Bathgate, Vic Hadfield, Rod Gilbert and Bryan Hextall Sr. A pretty impressive list. As we know, Zib doesn't just score, but is a 200-foot player who plays in all situations.
3)
Barclay Goodrow notched the second goal of the game, this one coming on the power play. If you watched the MSG broadcast, you saw Steve Valiquette show the triangular passing sequence from Jacon Trouba to Kakko to K'Andre Miller, which gave Miller - on the PP with Alexis Lafreniere moved up to the top unit with CK20 out and Vitali Kravtsov removed from the second unit - a clear shot on net that was deflected by Goodrow. The tally was Goodrow's first PPG in 455 games while the assist extended Miller's point streak to seven games.For all the focus on the years and dollars Goodrow received, he has moved up and down the lines, played on the penalty kill, showed toughness when needed and now scored on the PP. Want to see aq bad deal, look at what Blake Coleman has received compared to his production.
Goodrow added an assist on Kravtsov's tally in the second. The pass by Filip Chytil was right to Kravtsov's stick for the deflection marker. The goal was the first for Kravtsov since Dec. 18, a stretch of 11 games, during which he registered only two assists.
4)
Alexis Lafremiere remains completely snake bit. Any prime scoring attempts are stoned, and even with an empty net, he has been unable to score. Laf has yet to record a point in Kreider's absence and hasn't scored a goal in 16 straight games. Sooner or later - we hope - the floodgates break and the dam opens. But for now, he is scuffling and really could use something positive to happen.
Vince Mercogliano wrote that
three of the Rangers' four lines out-shot Columbus with only the first line of Laf-Zib-Kakko ending up in the negative. The second-line trio of Artemi Panarin, Vincent Trocheck and Jimmy Vesey won their SOG battle by a lopsided 7-1 margin while Goodrow-Chytil-Kravtsov trio produced the Rangers' only five-on-five goal in the last three games while out-shooting the Jackets, 8-5. The makeshift fourth line of Sammy Blais, Jake Leschyshyn and Jonny Brodzinski dominated theirs, 6-0, with Brodzinski having his second straight solid game since returning to the lineup.
5) The Rangers were
very good the first two periods and very meh the final stanza. They out-shot Columbus, 26-12, in the opening 40 minutes with a 14-5 advantage in high-danger scoring chances, according to Natural Stat Trick. The Blue Jackets carried play almost the entire last 20 minutes, really picking up the pace after they dented the scoreboard. New York seemed to take their foot off the gas, allowing Columbus back in the game. Doing that Thursday would not end well.
6)
The Metro Division: as seen from what Vince Mercogliano wrote in his postgame column, the division remains extremely tight. The Canes, 27-9-8, continue to lead the division, maintaining a one point lead over the Devils, each with 44 games played. But that is only part of the story, and what it means is that you can't take any nights off and must avoid any lengthy losing streak.
New Jersey won their fifth straight to maintain a four-point lead over the Rangers (25-13-7) for second place, with the Washington Capitals and Pittsburgh Penguins also notching victories while the New York Islanders lost in overtime. That leaves only seven points separating the third-place Blueshirts from the Caps, Pens and Isles, with room for no more than five Metro teams in the Eastern Conference playoffs.
New York Rangers Blogger • 
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