Rangers Recap: Recap: Garand’s Gem Wasted as Rangers Fall to Blue Jackets, 1-0 OT

For the first time this season, the New York Rangers faced the Columbus Blue Jackets. Both teams were coming off a loss, and the Rangers needed to respond after a blowout in their last outing. Taylor Raddysh made his season debut for the Blueshirts after being recalled from the Hartford Wolf Pack. Dylan Garand was in net for New York, and on the other side it was Jet Greaves. Matt Rempe and Scott Morrow watched from the press box.

First Period

Through the first five minutes of play, both teams traded possession of the puck, with the only true scoring opportunity coming from an Adam Fantilli shot, which was saved by Garand. That was Columbus' only shot during that time, while the Rangers had three.

The next few minutes of play weren't much different, with each team getting a shot or two on net, but nothing high-danger. To this point, Tye Kartye had been an effective force on the forecheck to help the Rangers retrieve the puck. Mathieu Olivier generated the next meaningful scoring chance, but Garand came away with another save.

The Blue Jackets put together the best shift of the game, getting multiple looks, but the Rangers finally got off for a change, and their third line responded. Will Cuylle got multiple looks, but on the other end, Greaves held strong. With 6:13 remaining in the first, Vladislav Gavrikov was called for holding, which sent the Blue Jackets to the first power play of the game.

Gavrikov got banged up on the same play, taking a hook from Charlie Coyle, which sent him to the locker room. The Rangers' penalty kill continued its strong performance this season. Cuylle kept up his strong play with a nice clear while on the shorthanded unit. The Blueshirts successfully killed the penalty, allowing only two shots on goal, and Gavrikov returned from the locker room.

The Blue Jackets put together a sustained shift in the Rangers' zone to end the period, but the Rangers held strong. The first ended in a tie, but the Rangers had outshot the Blue Jackets 9-7.

Second Period

The Rangers came out strong to start the second period with multiple good shifts within the first few minutes of play. Columbus answered with a long shift of its own, but the game stayed scoreless. About six minutes into the period, Cuylle drove toward the net but was hit into it by Zach Werenski, which caused the net to come loose.

The Blue Jackets drew another penalty, this time on Sean Durzi, but kept play going for a bit before the Rangers touched up. Play finally stopped after Garand came away with a good save just before the power play. Shortly after, Garand made another save, this time against Cole Sillinger, as he bounced back from an underwhelming performance in New Jersey. Outside of that lone shot, the Rangers' penalty kill looked good and remained perfect.

Garand made another nice save right after the power play expired and kept the Rangers in the game. Both sides then traded some solid shifts, but high-danger scoring chances were not coming easy. Braden Schneider did an excellent job of breaking up a Columbus rush that could have resulted in one.

With about five minutes left in the second, the Blue Jackets had a strong shift where Garand made more impressive saves. A few minutes later, Gabe Perreault created the Rangers' best chance of the game. After receiving a pass, he moved toward the net with some simple but effective stick work but was stoned in close.

Shortly after, the Rangers' fourth line created another good opportunity with nifty passing from Raddysh and Justin Dowling, but Oliver Bjorkstrand couldn't finish on the play. The Rangers made one last push at the end of the period, but the game remained scoreless going into the second intermission.

Third Period

Eighteen seconds into the period, the Rangers got their first power-play opportunity because of a penalty by Fantilli. The Rangers had some good puck movement early on, but the Blue Jackets held strong. The power play came up empty-handed, and Garand was forced to make a stop right after it expired.

A few minutes later, Jake Christiansen was called for tripping Adam Fox, giving the Rangers another opportunity to find the game's first goal. The call was questionable, but it was still a chance to score. Early on the man advantage, Olivier blocked a shot from J.T. Miller off the faceoff. Pavel Dorofeyev then got a shot on goal, but it was gloved.

The first unit looked better but once again came up empty-handed. With the second unit out, Werenski had a chance shorthanded, but Garand stood strong. Bjorkstrand then followed that with a shot for the Rangers, but it hit the crossbar as the Rangers once again came up empty-handed on the power play.

At about the halfway point of the third, Sillinger was called for hooking Durzi, giving New York a third man-advantage opportunity after going the first two periods without one. Once again, the Rangers did not score on the power play and gave up multiple shorthanded chances.

Time was running out, which only ramped up the play from both teams. Fantilli had another good shot, but Garand kept his net clean. Less than a minute later, Columbus generated a three-on-two rush on which Garand came away with a sprawling save on Sillinger.

A few minutes later, the Blue Jackets generated a three-on-one, which was broken up by Marcus Pettersson. Columbus continued to push as the clock got closer to zero, but it ran into a goaltender playing his best game. With 1:16 left, Kent Johnson threw a hit into the boards on Pettersson that kept him down on the ice for a minute, but he stayed on the bench. After the play, the Blue Jackets used their timeout.

With 32 seconds left in regulation, Cuylle was called for interference, giving the Blue Jackets a late power play. On the brief power play, Werenski got a shot off, but Garand made the late save. The Rangers cleared on the ensuing faceoff, sending the game to overtime.

Overtime

The Blue Jackets established possession early in overtime and worked the puck around before Johnson moved in and shot the puck. Garand made another save to keep the Rangers in it. Shorthanded, J.T. Miller held the puck, which allowed for a change and gave Mika Zibanejad and Fox a shorthanded chance. Garand then came up with another stellar save in the final second of the power play, this time on Sean Monahan.

Four-on-four play then began with Columbus winning the faceoff, but Garand gloved a pass and then kept the play alive. The Rangers then got some play in the Blue Jackets' zone but couldn't finish the game.

With 1:33 left in overtime, Johnson finally beat Garand and ended the game for Columbus, 1-0. The play started with a slick pass from Johnson to Coyle, who worked it back to Werenski before he passed it to Johnson for the winner.

The Rangers are back home Monday, when they will take on the Anaheim Ducks.