These are the kinds of things that happen to teams that are winning, so forgive the Rangers if the good fortune still seems foreign.
Yet they are not going to apologize for riding a wave of opportunity, using three third-period power-play goals to storm past John Tortorella’s shockingly undisciplined Blue Jackets, 5-3, on Monday night at the Garden.
It was the fourth win in a row for the Blueshirts (7-7-2), who are now 6-2-0 in their past eight and doing what they can to put that putrid start behind them. The 1-5-2 getaway still leaves a lingering stink from a time when everything was going wrong. Now, things are starting to roll in the other direction and that stench is at least lifting somewhat.
“When we were going through that stretch when we were losing, we were making plays to lose games,” alternate captain Marc Staal told The Post. “I think this last stretch, we’ve found ways to make plays to win them. That’s the biggest difference.”
The plays came when the Blue Jackets (9-5-1) started their parade to the penalty box in the third period. First there was a high stick from talented forward Artemi Panarin, then a very unintelligent elbow in retaliation from Zac Dalpe, followed finally by the dagger, an offensive-zone tripping penalty from defenseman David Savard. The Rangers’ power-play goals came in a span of 6:17, starting with Kevin Shattenkirk — his third goal in the past two games — as well as Chris Kreider and Pavel Buchnevich, giving them a 4-3 lead with 8:37 left to play.
“When you take stupid penalties, you don’t kill them off,” Tortorella said, the fiery ex-Rangers coach doing all he could to hold back expletives. “We were a dumb hockey team.”
The difference for the Rangers was that when they had those chances to come back, they did. Earlier in the season, they would fight and claw their way back into games only to squander them near the end. Even in the midst of their power-play run, the Blue Jackets took a 3-2 lead when Oliver Bjorkstran scored from in front at 8:01 of the second.
But now the Rangers have a semblance of confidence, and they got plays like the all-world backhand saucer pass that was one of Mika Zibanejad’s three assists, resulting in Buchnevich’s game-winner.
“It’s high; it should be,” Zibanejad said of the team’s confidence. “If we want to be a good team, we have to find ways to win the game even though we are down. We did that, and I think obviously, the past three games help that confidence.”
The Rangers seem to be over the mental hump of posting bad first periods, but went into the second still scoreless. That’s when Columbus jumped all over them, going up 2-0 when Panarin and Josh Anderson both beat Henrik Lundqvist (23 saves) within the first 4:24 of the period. But a one-armed, falling-down pass from J.T. Miller resulted in Michael Grabner jamming home his sixth of the season to make it 2-1 going into the third.
“It was kind of a flat game at that point,” Shattenkirk said, “and a lot of credit goes to Michael Grabner because his goal really sparked us.”
But fanning the flames were the Blue Jackets and their penalties, and when Grabner sealed the game with an empty-netter, another building block was set for the Rangers to continue climbing out of their early-season hole.
“Even when we were losing, we were in games, right there to go after a win — and we didn’t have the confidence to do that,” Staal said. “Now, we’re starting to feel a little better in those situations and make the play to grab a win.”