The Columbus Blue Jackets decided it would be nice to hand the New York Rangers a win on a silver platter.
The Columbus Blue Jackets were in a giving mood on Monday. They gave up three power play goals in the third to the Rangers to lose a Metro matchup. They gave up a perfect chance to take two points on the road. They gave up a chance to finish a tough road trip with five out of six points.
The game didn’t see much action in the first period. It did see a bright spot for the CBJ special teams as the Jackets killed a Josh Anderson penalty. But that would be about it for bright spots on special teams.
In the second period Artemi Panarin ended his ten game goalless streak potting one following a great pass from below the goal line from Zach Werenski. Four minutes later, Josh Anderson ended up with his sixth goal of the year to give the Jackets a 2-0 lead.
With less than eight minutes left in the period though the momentum swung back to the New York Rangers. Michael Grabner scored cutting the lead to 2-1.
Third Period Meltdown
And the meltdown came because of special teams. The Jackets relinquished the lead early in the third period on a Kevin Shattenkirk power play goal. Artemi Panarin lost control of his stick that resulted in a high stick to give the Rangers the man advantage.
Columbus Blue Jackets
Shortly after that though Boone Jenner created a scoring chance with some great hustle. He took the puck down right at Henrik Lundqvist that created some chaos in front of the net. Brandon Dubinsky ended up with the puck behind the net and fed Oliver Bjorkstrand who finished off the play. The Jackets grabbed momentum back and had a 3-2 lead.
A minute later Zac Dalpe pulled a bonehead move and elbowed a Ranger in the face. The power play didn’t last long for the Rangers though as they scored three seconds in to tie the game back up.
Two minutes after that David Savard got called for a tripping, in the offensive zone. An offensive zone tripping call is a killer and it did just that for the Jackets. The Rangers scored again on the power play to take a 4-3 lead that they wouldn’t give up.
New York ended the night converting on three of their five man advantage opportunities, sinking any chance the Jackets had tonight. The CBJ won’t have any time to dwell on the terrible loss though. The will face the defending Western Conference Champion Nashville Predators tomorrow in Columbus.
Handing points away to a divisional opponent will kill you in the NHL. The Jackets need to putt this crushing loss behind them and earn some points tomorrow.