Blue Jackets Drop Out of Wildcard Spot With Shutout Loss to Rangers – The Hockey Writers – Columbus Blue Jackets

The Columbus Blue Jackets had another chance to break their funk on Saturday night against the team right behind them in the standings. However, it was more of the same frustration for the Blue Jackets in front of another sellout crowd at Nationwide Arena.

Igor Shesterkin stopped all 21 shots he faced while Artemi Panarin and Alexis Lafrenière each added a goal and an assist to lift the Rangers to a big 4-0 win on Saturday night. Vincent Trocheck added two goals in the third period to ice the game away.

A costly mistake early put the Blue Jackets behind. They weren’t able to come back from that.

Game Recap

Not even two minutes into the game, a turnover led to the first goal for the Rangers. Daniil Tarasov tried to play the puck but it ended up in front where Lafrenière buried it. Although the Blue Jackets kept their structure in tact most of the night, they couldn’t find much room to manuever.

In the second, both teams found it difficult to generate much. But then midway through the second, Panarin was able to find the middle of the ice and scored from the slot to double the lead.

Although the Blue Jackets were still within striking distance, the game felt like a bigger deficit than 2-0. They couldn’t generate offense consistently. Even when they did, some bad luck got in the way.

Dmitri Voronkov appeared to have a wide open net. Only the puck hit the far post and stayed out. It was that kind of the night for the Blue Jackets.

In the third, there was just one shot on goal recorded in the first nine minutes. The Rangers locked the Blue Jackets down at every turn throughout the period.

Then Trocheck put the game out of reach by converting on a 2-on-1 rush to make it 3-0. Then while shorthanded, he scored an empty netter to get to the final score of 4-0.

The one bright spot for the Blue Jackets was they only allowed 20 shots on goal to the Rangers. Most nights, that will lead to wins. But a second consecutive home shutout leaves the Blue Jackets searching for answers on how to break through.

Tarasov finished with 17 saves on the night. They are back in action Monday night at home against the New Jersey Devils. Meanwhile, the Rangers head home for a date with the Edmonton Oilers on Sunday.

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