COLUMBUS, Ohio — The pendulum is starting to swing back on the Rangers in this so-far streaky season, with a second straight loss following a six-game winning streak.
The Rangers came to Nationwide Arena on Friday hoping to start a new streak after their poor finish in Wednesday’s loss at Chicago, only to fall, 2-0, to the Blue Jackets in a performance reminiscent of their poor start to the season.
“I don’t think we played well enough today to win the hockey game,” Mats Zuccarello said. “They got a good forecheck on us, pinned us sometimes. We’re not doing the same thing to them.
“At the end of the day, it’s not good enough. We have to create more. We have to get on the inside, get some pucks through, and make some plays.”
The attack was inconsistent at best, too frequently kept on the perimeter. The defense was porous, leaving Henrik Lundqvist on an island for far too much of the evening.
Shut out for the first time this season, the Rangers only trailed by a goal after two periods, but the deficit felt larger as the Blue Jackets’ play was significantly better at both ends of the ice.
Goals by Artemi Panarin and Zach Werenski were the difference as the Blueshirts failed to break through against Blue Jackets goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky (36 saves). Last year’s Vezina Trophy winner was rarely challenged, allowed precious few rebounds and faced very little traffic in front of him.
“He played well, but we didn’t really test him that much,” Lundqvist said. “He saw most of the shots and we didn’t create the big chances. To beat him, you have to make it really tough on him, be in his face, and screen him a lot.”
After an even first period, the Rangers (9-9-2, 20 points) were overwhelmed in the second. They were outshot 19-9 as the Blue Jackets lived in the Blueshirts’ zone. The visitors only trailed by a goal because of Lundqvist’s stellar play.
Columbus (12-7-1, 25 points) broke the scoreless tie at 13:34 of the second stanza, when former Ranger Brandon Dubinsky went around Brendan Smith and David Desharnais by the left circle, setting up Werenski for his sixth goal of the season. Columbus only increased the pressure from there, putting the heat on Lundqvist and his back line while the Rangers couldn’t sustain much of an attack. The forecheck was nonexistent, making it easy for the Blue Jackets in their own end.
Making his eighth consecutive start, Lundqvist (40 saves) was sharp after getting pulled from Wednesday’s 6-3 loss to the Blackhawks, but didn’t get nearly enough help. The offense was missing in action, and the power play whiffed on three opportunities, failing to even get a shot on goal on a third-period opportunity. Panarin put the game away at 7:14 of the third, ripping a between-the-circles blast past Lundqvist glove side on the power play after Kevin Hayes had failed to clear the puck.
Rangers coach Alain Vigneault described it as a “bad mistake.”
“Instead of it being a one-shot game, it’s a two-shot game against a goaltender who obviously has his game tonight,” Vigneault said. “That made it very hard.”
Even without the goal, it may not have mattered. The Rangers showed little evidence they were capable of getting anything past Bobrovsky on this night.
“We didn’t deserve to win today,” Zuccarello said. “They were the better team.”