NEW YORK _ Christmas is over, and the games will be coming fast and furious for the Rangers now. So if they want to extend their stay in the playoff race, they are going to need to find ways to win as many games as they can, and get points out of tough games.
Pierre-Luc Dubois' goal 31 seconds into overtime doomed the Rangers to a stunning 4-3 loss at the Garden on Thursday night, though the Blueshirts did manage to get a point, thanks to a pair of goals by Chris Kreider and a gritty defensive effort that brought them to within 2:20 of what would have been a nice win.
But Zach Werenski's goal _ the shot deflected off someone in front _ erased yet another Rangers lead and forced the five-minute overtime.
The Rangers had looked as though they would start the post-Christmas part of the schedule with a win after Brady Skjei's attempted pass deflected off Columbus forward Cam Atkinson's leg and dropped right into Chris Kreider's wheelhouse. The Rangers' leading goalscorer pounded on it and scored his second goal of the game to break a 2-2 tie at 12:06 of the third.
It was the second consecutive overtime/shootout loss for the Rangers, following their 3-2 shootout loss to the Flyers on Sunday.
Coming out of the three-day break, both teams seemed a little off in the first two periods, and Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist seemed to be scrambling around, unsteady on his skates, for much of the early part of the game.
He was beaten twice in the first period, the first time by Oliver Bjorkstrand at 9:17 and the second time by David Savard on a wrist shot from the right wing that somehow got by Lundqvist's blocker and into the net for the Columbus defenseman's second goal of the season.
But the red-hot Kevin Hayes set up a goal by Jimmy Vesey in the first period and had an assist on Kreider's power play goal in the second, and the Rangers were tied after 40 minutes, 2-2. And little by little, Lundqvist seemed to regain his legs and get his glove hand working as he stopped 15 of 17 shots in the first two periods.
Before the game, Rangers coach David Quinn talked about the Rangers' need to create more scoring chances and to get the power play cranked up. The extra man unit didn't do much in the two games before the break.
"Our power play has to not only be productive, but a bad power play can demoralize you, as well," Quinn said. "You go out there for two minutes, you've got five, they've got four, all of a sudden, you get nothing out of it, and it's a little bit demoralizing, so we've got to get back to playing with pace on our power play and giving us some life, and some goals."
They got one on their first chance, just seven seconds after Columbus' Scott Harrington went off for boarding Pavel Buchnevich. Hayes passed to Mats Zuccarello who fired a shot/pass that Kreider deflected past Joona Korpisalo for his 18th of the season at 1:45 of the second.
