Will Cuylle’s late goal gives Rangers huge 4-3 win against Blue Jackets
The New York Rangers’ effort against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday was light years better than their performance against the Pittsburgh Penguins 24 hours earlier. It paid off in a much-needed victory.
Will Cuylle scored with 1:39 remaining in the third period to give the Rangers a 4-3 victory at Nationwide Arena, sending them into the two-week break for the 4 Nations Face-off with their third third-period comeback win this week.
Cuylle, who assisted on Urho Vaakanainen’s game-tying goal at 1:57 of the third period, capitalized on a funny bounce after Vincent Trocheck got a piece of a clearing pass. The puck came right to Cuylle, alone in the slot, and his shot beat a surprised Elvis Merzlikins, giving the Rangers a desperately needed two points.
“We knew we had to make at least get one goal trying to get to overtime, and then we were just trying to get lots of pucks to the net,” said Cuylle, whose 14 goals surpassed his total last season. “I felt like we kind of outplayed them most of the period. So that was kind of just the game plan, that desperation we really hadn’t had the last couple of games.”
Arthur Kaliyev and Mika Zibanejad also scored for the Rangers in a game that saw neither team have a power play. Jonathan Quick made 22 saves.
The win moved the Rangers (27-24-4) within three points of the Detroit Red Wings for the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference – the Red Wings lost 6-3 at home to the Tampa Bay Lightning in the afternoon. New York also gained on the Ottawa Senators, Boston Bruins, New York Islanders and Montreal Canadiens, all of whom lost Saturday.
Their next game comes on Feb. 22, when they open a three-game road trip in a span of four nights with a visit to the Buffalo Sabres.
“There’s games that go by that you wish you played better,” coach Peter Laviolette said, “and then there’s been a lot of games that we won to put ourselves back up in the mix anyway.”
Six Rangers will take part in the 4 Nations event – forward Mika Zibanejad (Sweden) and defenseman Urho Vaakanainen (Finland), as well as forwards Chris Kreider, Vincent Trocheck and J.T. Miller, and defenseman Adam Fox (United States).
Everyone else gets a midwinter vacation – one that the Rangers hope will let starting goaltender Igor Shesterkin heal from an upper-body injury and allow them to regroup for what they hope will be a playoff push in the final 27 games.
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New York Rangers 4 – Columbus Blue Jackets 3
Rangers coach Peter Laviolette shook up his lines after the poor showing against Pittsburgh and was rewarded when his team grabbed a 1-0 lead 1:56 into the game.
Kaliyev, a healthy scratch in each of the past four games, took a pass from Ryan Lindgren, shook off Blue Jackets defenseman Jordan Harris as he got into the left circle, raced around the net and scored on a wraparound, tucking the puck just inside the right post as Merzlikins didn’t get all the way over. It was his third goal in 11 games since being claimed on waivers from the Los Angeles Kings on Jan. 6.
The Rangers continued to dominate in the early going, forcing Merzlikins to make a big stop on Jimmy Vesey after he got behind the defense. He had to stop another breakaway just after the nine-minute mark on Reilly Smith’s breakaway backhander.
Quick bailed himself out less than a minute later after his own misplay behind the net, getting back into his crease in time to deny Cole Sillinger and Luis Del Bel Belluz, then got some help when K’Andre Miller dove to block a second shot by Del Bel Belluz with the net wide open.
But the 39-year-old goaltender wasn’t as fortunate at 14:31, when Kent Johnson scored from below the right circle to tie the game 1-1. Defenseman Zach Werenski extended his home points streak to 21 games by coming down the slot, looking like he was going to shoot and instead feeding Johnson, who rifled a shot past the glove of Quick, who couldn’t get over in time.
The energized Blue Jackets needed just 58 seconds to take a 2-1 lead. After Columbus won a puck battle at the Rangers’ blue line, Justin Danforth was left unchecked in front the net and deflected a shot-pass by Jack Johnson from the left circle past a defenseless Quick.
The Rangers tied the game 6:38 into the second period by doing something they’d done just once all season – score while playing 4-on-4. With Trocheck and Columbus defenseman Damon Severson off for unsportsmanlike conduct, the Rangers set up in the Blue Jackets zone. Fox set up in the right circle and fed a pass through the seam to Zibanejad, who zipped a shot from the left dot past Merzlikins to make it 2-2.
New York dominated play for the next several minutes but couldn’t get another puck past Merzlikins. The Blue Jackets, who’d had trouble clearing their zone, finally mounted a rush with less than three minutes remaining in the period and turned it into the go-ahead goal.
All three Rangers forwards got caught when James van Riemsdyk led a 3-on-2 rush. He fed Cole Sillinger, cut for the net and was left unchecked to take a pass from Severson for a deflection past a helpless Quick to give the Blue Jackets a 3-2 lead.
But the Rangers needed just 1:57 of the third period to get even at 3-3. Cuylle drew a penalty as he carried the puck from right to left across the top of the zone. Before the Blue Jackets could gain control of the puck and get a whistle, Cuylle wristed a shot from above the left circle that deflected off Vaakanainen and caught the top far corner for his first goal with the Rangers.
The Rangers continued to dominate play, outshooting Columbus 17-4 in the final period and 40-25 for the game. The Blue Jackets were often content to lob the puck out of their zone to get a change.
Werenski briefly saved the day for the Jackets with just over seven minutes left when he swept the puck out of the crease after Alexis Lafreniere’s shot slithered through Merzlikins.
Cuylle ultimate played hero, scoring the game winner in the final minutes to secure the Rangers’ third win this week when trailing after two periods.
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