The New York Rangers visit the Columbus Blue Jackets Saturday night in a matchup of teams fighting for an Eastern Conference wild-card spot.
The teams are tied with 70 points, but the Blue Jackets, who occupied the second wild-card spot entering Friday, have one game in hand on the Rangers.
Columbus was shut out 4-0 by the Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday, while the Rangers posted a 3-2 overtime win at Minnesota. The Blue Jackets routed the Rangers 7-3 in New York on Sunday.
The Rangers snapped a four-game losing streak (0-2-2) with their win against the Wild as Brandon Schneider scored at 1:51 of overtime. Vincent Trocheck and Jonny Brodzinski also scored and Igor Shesterkin made 26 saves.
Artemi Panarin extended his point streak to seven games (five goals, five assists) with his 41st assist of the season as New York improved to 7-3-3 in its last 13 road games.
The Wild tied it 2-2 during a four-minute power play in the third.
“It’s unfortunate to have six minutes of penalties in the third period. … But it is what it is,” Rangers coach Peter Laviolette said. “Overall, though, just a really good effort. Guys played extremely hard. Got a big win and moving on.”
The Rangers were 0-4 in their previous four one-goal games.
“I know coming down the stretch we’re going to need to be able to play in these one-goal games and kind of be comfortable in those games,” Brodzinski said. “We’re resilient. We showed it last year. We still can be. This last little stretch here I think we take this and keep going.”
After Saturday, the Rangers return home for games against playoff contenders Edmonton, Calgary, Toronto and Vancouver.
Like the Rangers, the Blue Jackets are struggling, dropping four of their past five games.
Elvis Merzlikins made 25 saves against Vegas, but the Blue Jackets went 0-for-3 on the power play in the first period and never recovered.
“Six minutes and we weren’t able to get one by,” Columbus captain Boone Jenner said. “We had some looks, but at the end of the day we’ve got to bury one of those and give us some juice.”
The Knights took the lead on a power-play goal midway through the first period and added another goal late in the session.
“It was frustrating. It’s 8-0 in shots, they get a (power play) and they get one shot and it goes in the net,” Blue Jackets coach Dean Evason said. “It was frustrating for everybody because the way we were playing didn’t dictate that we should be down in this hockey game.”
Columbus defenseman Jake Christiansen left the game in the second period with an upper-body injury and Evason said he will not play against the Rangers.
The Blue Jackets are seeking their first playoff appearance since 2019-20.
Last Sunday against the Rangers, Adam Fantilli scored his second career hat trick in the Blue Jackets’ 7-3 win. Mathieu Olivier and Dante Fabbro each had a goal and an assist. On Jan. 18, Shesterkin shut out Columbus 1-0 in a game that went to a shootout, and Will Cuylle scored the game-winner late in the third period of a 4-3 Rangers win on Feb. 8.
–Field Level Media
