Rangers vs Blue Jackets by the numbers: Gallant expecting a better performance
The New York Rangers will face the Columbus for the first time this season. Gerard Gallant is looking for his team to bounce back and play a “man’s game” at the Garden before hitting the road again.
Here’s the game day preview by the numbers.
NYR: 4-2-1 (9 POINTS)
CBJ 4-2-0 (8 POINTS)
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2021 – 7:00 PM ET Madison Square Garden
TV: MSG Network
RADIO: 98.7 FM
Rangers last game: 5-1 loss to the Calgary Flames
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RANGERS VS. BLUE JACKETS
All-Time: 20-16-1-3 (8-6-1-3 at home; 12-10-0-0 on the road)
The Rangers have gained a point in three of the last four games against Columbus (2-1-1). In their last 11 meetings the score has been tight, decided by two goals or less.
Rangers top scorers vs CBJ:
Chris Kreider – 28 GP, 11G-6A—17P – Kreider is the Rangers’ all-time leader in goals against the Blue Jackets. He has points in seven of his last 10 games (8G-1A) against Columbus.
Mika Zibanejad – 15 GP, 4G-13A—17P – Zibanejad has 10 points (2G-8A) in his last 10 games against the Blue Jackets including a plus-2 rating. Zibanejad has points in four of his last five games against Columbus (5A) dating back to Jan. 13, 2019.
Ryan Strome – 23 GP, 6G-5A—11P – Strome has points (2G-2A) in four of six games as a Ranger, against Columbus.
Jacob Trouba – 15 GP, 3G-8A—11P – Trouba has points in all three games (1G-2A) against the Blue Jackets as a member of the Rangers.
New York Rangers by the numbers
Rangers face-off improvement:
Against the Flames, the Rangers won 31-of-51 face-offs for a 60.8 percent success rate, their highest winning percentage for draws this season. The Blueshirts still rank 31st in the NHL with a 45.7% face-off win percentage, but that was a good sign.
Hitting Machine:
The Blueshirts rank second in the NHL with 202 hits. They are 13 hits behind the NY Islanders for tops in the league.
Rangers Giveth and Taketh away:
New York is 12th in the NHL for takeaways this season with 50. Panarin and Fox are tied with 9 each. Unfortunately, they rank 6th for giveaways with 76. Panarin and Lindgren are tied with 8 each.
Key Rangers:
Adam Fox has five points in his first seven games of the season bidding for back-to-back Norris Trophies. Going back to last season, his 52 points ties him for first with Tampa’s Victor Hedman and Edmonton’s Tyson Barrie.
Mika Zibanejad has 1G and 5 A through the team’s first seven games.
Rangers Milestones within reach
Kreider, 30, has 351 points and need just one more point to pass Petr Nedved (351) for the 27th most points in franchise history. He’s 2 PPG’s from tying Andy Hebenton (63) for the 11th most in franchise history and 3 goals from tying Phil Esposito (184) for the 15th most goals scored in team history.
Mika Zibanejad is also nearing some milestones:
- 1 SHG will tie in the franchise’s top 10 for most shorthanded goals by a Rangers player
- 1 goal away from tying Bill Fairbairn (138) for 31st on Rangers all-time scoring list
- 1 overtime goal away from tying Cecil Dillon, Butch Keeling and Brian Leetch (7 each) for the most overtime goals by a player in Rangers history
Alexandar Georgiev is 2 games away from 100 in his NHL career.
Barclay Goodrow is 5 points away from 100 career points.
Adam Fox is 6 points away from 100 career points.
Rangers Special Teams
- NYR PP is a paltry 11.5% (3-26), Kreider has all three tallies
- NYR PK dipped from 81% to 78.3% (18-23). they’ve killed off 15 of 16 penalties against
*All Stats and Info courtesy New York Rangers
Three Keys for victory
- Limit turnovers and play a more North-South game
- Get shots through on the power play, it’s been one of the biggest issues this season
- Watch Patrik Laine, he can break open a game by himself
NHL Rumors
Joel Quenneville resigns, John Tortorella may be next head coach. Read more here.
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