The Rangers proved that revenge is the best dish on the ice.
Three days after being denied their 11th straight victory and thus a franchise record by the Blue Jackets, the Rangers scored two empty-net goals to contribute to a 4-1 victory over Columbus in Madison, their third and final matchup. I got the last laugh. square garden.
The reaction was important, but the win moved the Blueshirts into a tie with the Canucks for the NHL’s most points.
Yes, the Rangers, led by first-year coach Peter Laviolette, are leading the league with two games remaining before the March 8 trade deadline and 22 games left in the regular season.
This is the first team to achieve 40 wins.
Chris Drury has some necessary moves, but if the last three weeks have taught the Rangers’ president and general manager anything, it’s that his team is worth the investment.
The top of the NHL appears to be wide open, with some teams overperforming and others underperforming contrary to initial expectations.
Rangers were always supposed to be the favorites to win the title, but it’s been impressive to see them remain number one in the Metropolitan Division for most of the season.
Despite coming off a disastrous January, Rangers managed to maintain their position.
And with goaltender Igor Shesterkin back at the top, and with a 30-save performance most recently, the Rangers’ possibilities seem endless.
Not enough is said about the change in the Rangers’ approach to faceoffs.
Sure, their team’s winning percentage ranks in the top five in the NHL, but it’s the way they try to make something out of ties that has elevated their recent competitive games.
So the second period began, Artemi Panarin got the puck and knocked it in after a face-off with Vincent Trocheck.
The goal marked Panarin’s fourth 80-point season since the Russian star winger arrived in 2019-20.
Trocheck then set up Columbus forward Johnny Gaudreau, but he hit the ice hard and missed the rest of the field in center field, returning at the start of the third game.
Initially ruled a major to review the play, officials only penalized Mathieu Olivier’s retaliatory cross-check on Trocheck.
Chris Kreider then made a takeaway in the O-zone, setting up Adam Fox’s power play goal for a 2-0 lead.
The Rangers could have had a multi-goal lead going into the first intermission, as they had a number of missed shots that missed by just a few inches.
It was a clean defensively and aggressive period for the home team, with Shesterkin anchored in the back and making nine saves.
But Elvis Merzlikins matched that tenfold with 17 stops in the first 20 minutes.
The Columbus goalie picked up where he left off on home ice Sunday, making 38 saves in a 4-2 victory over the Rangers.
