After a rough first two periods, the Columbus Blue Jackets would need a little help and a little bread to ultimately find their groove in the third period to secure a 3-1 victory over the New York Rangers.
Nationwide Arena was rocking early as the Columbus Blue Jackets played at home for the second time this young season. Jackets fans were still feeding off the energy of the 5-0 win over the New York Islanders, the last time the CBJ were in town.
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1st Period: Mistakes, Mistakes, Mistakes
Within the first minute of the first period, it looked as if the Jackets were going to be rocking the ice as well. It appeared Matt Calvert had scored on a tip-in set up by a David Savard shot under 30 seconds into the game.
Unfortunately for the Jackets, Rangers head coach, Alain Vigneault, would challenge the play for goalie interference. After reviewing the call, it was determined Calvert had indeed made contact with NYR goalie Henrik Lundqvist, and the goal was taken off the scoreboard.
Later in the first, after a Blue Jackets power play had ended, the Rangers’ Kevin Hayes scored on a broken Jackets play. Seth Jones had tried to drop a pass to rookie Gabriel Carlsson just outside of the CBJ’s zone, but Jones misjudged the position of his fellow blue liner. Hayes stole the puck and snapped a quick shot past Columbus goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky to give New York a 1-0 lead. This score would carry into the first intermission.
2nd period: Saved By Seth
The Jackets fought the puck for much of the first and second periods. But Seth Jones would redeem his first period mistake with a wrist shot from high on the right wall after a cross-ice pass from Zach Werenski.
The puck fooled Lundqvist after glancing off the leg of Rangers center Mika Zibanejad. Centerman Alexander Wennberg received credit for the second assist as the Columbus Blue Jackets tied the game 1-1, the score it would be at the end of the second period.
3rd Period: Go Out With A Bang
The 1-1 score would hold until 7:25 into the third period. Former Chicago and now-CBJ forward Artemi Panarin skated down the ice and deked everyone out of their jockstraps to launch the biscuit in the basket and give his new Blue Jackets teammates their first lead of the game, 2-1. Jones and Werenski would record the assists on Panarin’s first goal as a part of the Jackets.
The last goal of the night would come after the CBJ defended the Rangers’ fourth and final power play. Following the theme of the night, Blue Jackets fourth-line center Lukas Sedlak would step out of the box after a holding penalty and cause havoc at the New York blue line.
Sedlak appeared to get a piece of the puck as NYR defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk was attempting to pass toward the net. Jackets defenseman Ryan Murray intercepted it and sent the puck toward Sedlak in the neutral zone.
Sedlak then beat Shattenkirk to the Rangers’ empty net while getting slashed by Shattenkirk from behind. This gave the Jackets a 3-1 lead with just six seconds left in the game.
Post-Game Thoughts
Overall, both teams played a sluggish game. Lundqvist and Bobrovsky put on great performances, earning third star and first star honors, respectively. Artemi Panarin received the second star.
Unfortunately, both of the goalies’ teams kind of failed them. Bobrovsky again conceded a goal after a sloppy and foolish turnover by his teammate while Lundqvist likely would not have let up the Seth Jones goal had the puck not been deflected by a Ranger.
The Columbus Blue Jackets have been leaning hard on Bobrovsky in his last two starts. Some offense will be needed by the CBJ to give their star goalie a break later on in this season. Right now, we can enjoy the victory and look forward to Saturday’s game against the Minnesota Wild.
The Rangers get a few days to lick their early-season wounds and hopefully come back to their usual fighting spirit. They will look to gain their next points against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Oct. 17.