First Period:
- Erik Gustafsson (1): Assists: Adam Fox (2), Jimmy Vesey (1)
- Boone Jenner (1) Assists: Johnny Gaudreau (1), Kirill Marchenko (3)
- Boone Jenner (2) (Power Play) Assists: Johnny Gaudreau (2), Ivan Provorov (1)
Second Period:
- Boone Jenner (3) Assists: Jake Bean (1)
- David Jiricek (1) Assists: Patrik Laine (1), Ivan Provorov (2)
Third Period:
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- Will Cuylle (1) Assists: Vincent Trocheck (1), Erik Gustafsson (1)
- Justin Danforth (1) Assists: Cole Sillinger (1), Kent Johnson (1)
- Chris Kreider (3) (Power Play) Assists: Artemi Panarin (2), Adam Fox (2)
Stats:
Adam Rotter:
- The Rangers had a pretty good first period and seemed like they were going to cruise to another victory, but then one goal was disallowed and then another, Columbus got a couple of saves, started to play better, and capitalized on some mistakes in the second period to put the Rangers in a hole.
- The Rangers controlled a lot of this game, but they weren’t as sharp as they were on Thursday. They fired a ton of shots at the net and had some good chances stopped, but as a unit they didn’t look and feel as crisp as they did against Buffalo.
- It’s always so apparent how important Ryan Lindgren is as soon as he is out of the lineup. Erik Gustafsson had a productive game paired with Adam Fox, but Zac Jones stepped into the lineup and he and Braden Schneider struggled.
- There is a version of this game where at least one of those two goals in the first period is allowed and the Rangers end up cruising to a 5-1 win, but that wasn’t how it went tonight. Mika Zibanejad made a terrific play on one disallowed goal and the Artemi Panarin, Filip Chytil, and Alexis Lafreniere line connected on the other.
- Artemi Panarin was buzzing again and getting double-shifted in the third. I thought Alexis Lafreniere had another pretty strong game offensively as that line continues to generate chemistry.
- Jimmy Vesey seemed to get benched and he will likely be replaced by Tyler Pitlick on Monday. Zac Jones probably should sit, but that will be dependant upon Ryan Lindgren’s status.
- I did think that Jonathan Quick was going to go in for Shesterkin in the second period. Igor didn’t deserve to be pulled, but it was an easy spot to take him out, hopefully spark the team, and get Quick some minutes. I’m guessing we won’t see Quick until Thursday against Nashville.
- It’s game two of the season and game two under Peter Laviolette. There was definitely some good to take from this game, but more importantly, there were things the Rangers need to learn from and get better at, especially in their own zone. It’s going to be a process for a while as the Rangers learn their new system. A few steps forward, a step back, and then hopefully another step or two forward.
- Next up is the home opener on Monday against the Coyotes.