Columbus Blue Jackets @ New York Rangers: Season 25 3/2/26

Welcome to March, 5th Line! Tonight, Zach Werenski would be ruled out citing illness. So, without their best defenseman, the Blue Jackets would go to work on the road. Last season, Adam Fantilli got hot toward the end, including a hat-trick in Madison Square Garden. Tonight, his sixteenth goal of this season would be the first on the board at 5:50! Kirill Marchenko adds his twenty-eighth assist this season on the primary, while Denton Mateychuk adds his fourteenth assist with the secondary. The Blue Jackets would then close out the opening period by doubling up the Rangers at 15:32 after Rangers' Gabe Perreault was sent to the box for unsportsmanlike conduct. Ouch. Kirill Marchenko scored his second Blue Jackets goal tonight, making his twenty-first goal this season a power play goal! Defenseman Ivan Provorov gets his fifteenth assist this season on the primary, while the birthday boy, Charlie Coyle, gets his twenty-ninth assist this season on the secondary. The Blue Jackets dominated shots on goal this period, 10-4.  

Early in Period 2, our captain, Boone Jenner, was sent to the box for tripping Rangers Matthew Robertson. During this power play, it would appear as if the Rangers captain, T.J. Miller, had scored, but it would be reversed due to goaltender interference with Elvis Merzlikins by Alexis Lafreniere. So, the score would stay 2-0, but quickly turn 3-0 after a Sean Monahan shorthanded goal at 3:27! This was goal number eleven of his season. A little over halfway through the game, the Blue Jackets would acquire their second two-goal period in this game as Mathieu Olivier scored his ninth goal this season at 11:54! The birthday boy, Charlie Coyle, gets his second assist tonight, thirtieth this season, on the primary! Damon Severson also adds his eighteenth assist this season on the secondary. The middle period would close with the Rangers leading shots on goal, 11-9, but the Blue Jackets leading 4-0 on the scoreboard!  

The Rangers would find the start they'd been wanting for the first two periods in the last. Former Blue Jacket defenseman, Vladislav Gavrikov, would get the Rangers their first goal of the night at 00:30. This goal brings him into the double digits; his tenth this season. Alexis Lafreniere gains his twenty-first assist on this goal with the primary, while Will Cuylle gets his sixteenth assist this season with the secondary. Seconds later, the Rangers would cut our lead in half with an unassisted goal by Gabe Perreault. This goal, at 00:54, gives him four this season. Thankfully, Rick Bowness would pull his men to the bench, utilizing his timeout, and regroup the team. That is, until 12:50, when Will Borgen scored his fourth goal this season, cutting our lead to a single goal. Gabe Perreault adds a primary assist to his goal earlier in the period, his sixth this season, while Braden Schneider gets into double digits with the secondary assist after adding his tenth. Then... I don't know what really happened this period, but I can tell you that Gabe Perreault put himself on hat-trick watch at 15:14 with goal number five of his season, tying us at 4-4. (Sigh.) Will Borgen adds an assist to his earlier delayed power play goal, giving him five this season, and teammate Vincent Trocheck adds his twenty-seventh assist this season on the secondary. The Rangers would push to the final second of this period to complete the comeback win in regulation, but the Blue Jackets would hang on to go to overtime in a game that they should've had two points in regulation locked down. To back up my point, the shots on goal in this final period were in favor of the Rangers, 15-7.    

Kirill Marchenko would make short work of this overtime with a goal at 1:04! This was his twenty-second goal this season, and he scored two of the five goals tonight. Thank you, Marchy, we got our two points tonight after all! 

Charlie Coyle adds the Third Star of the Game to his two assists tonight. Not a bad way to end your birthday!

Rangers' Gabe Perreault gets the Second Star of the Game. Look, with his goal and two assists, he earned it for sure. 

And, March hates to see Kirill Marchenko coming as he adds the First Star of the Game to his overtime game-winning goal! 

It is a quick turnaround for our Blue Jackets. Tonight, they'll fly from New York to Columbus ahead of hosting Nick Blankenburg and the Nashville Predators tomorrow night in Nationwide Arena. This will be Pride Night! This is a special night for me because it is a night that celebrates diversity in hockey, and as someone with a disability, I love this night. The puck will drop at 7:00 p.m.! The good news is that the Predators also played today, so both teams will be on the second half of a back-to-back. They did lose 4-2 to the Red Wings at home, so I'm sure they'll be looking for a bounce back while we're looking to collect more points to catch the Boston Bruins and their second wildcard spot. This should be a good game, just hopefully not as eventful as tonight! 

GO CBJ! 

 

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