*Photo from Yahoo News*
Needing to quickly bounce back, they found a way to do it. Kaapo Kakko had two assists, Barclay Goodrow had a goal and assist, and the New York Rangers defeated the Columbus Blue Jackets with a 3-1 victory on Monday night in Columbus.
After dropping the first half of a back to back on Sunday, the Rangers quickly bounced back to take the second half before a few days off. Kakko and Goodrow were the only multi point scorers for the Rangers, who saw 5 other skaters register a point in the win.
New York head coach Gerard Gallant said of the win that "The first two periods we were pretty dominant, and I loved the way we played. They get that goal early in the third period, and it puts a little scare into you. We played well and we competed real hard tonight. I like the win."
It was Mika Zibanejad who started the scoring for the Rangers, giving them a 1-0 lead with his 20th goal of the season, coming 12:39 into the game, with Kakko and Adam Fox assisting. Goodrow then scored a power play goal with 58 seconds left in the first, with assists going to Kakko and K'Andre Miller.
Vitali Kravtsov produced the only goal of the second period, giving the Rangers a 3-0 lead on his 3rd goal of the season at the 11:47 mark of the second. Early in the 3rd period, Andrew Peeke got the Blue Jackets on the board, making the score 3-1 just 1:21 into the period, with Gustav Nyquist and Jack Roslovic assisting. The Rangers would hold the fort down from there.
Asked about bouncing back with a win, Zibanejad said that "I think everyone knows at this point what we have to do, what we do well, the things that makes us successful. We didn't do a whole lot of that against Montreal."
Getting the start in net for the Rangers was Jaroslav Halak, who picked up his 4th straight win to move to 5-6-1 on the season. Halak stopped all but one of the 25 shots he saw from Columbus, recording a sterling .960 save percentage.
Starting opposite Halak was Columbus's Elvis Merzlikins, who couldn't best his opponent. Merzlikins turned aside 30 out of the 33 shots on goal the Rangers had, good for a .909 save percentage. With the loss, his record drops to a paltry 5-12-0 in 19 games.
Blue Jackets head coach Brad Larsen was critical after the game, saying "Nobody had any gas. We had a day off, there is no excuse. We played like we got in at 4 a.m. I have no idea why. It blows my mind. If you're not skating, you're chasing, and when you're chasing, you're taking penalties. It's pretty simple."
Columbus resumes play with a Tuesday night road tilt with the Nashville Predators, with Daniil Tarasov to get the start. Igor Shesterkin is projected to start for the Rangers when they host the Boston Bruins on Thursday night.
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