The NHL trade deadline has come and gone, and the Blue Jackets are ready for the 20-game sprint to the finish.
Things get under way for the team in fitting fashion, as there’s no dipping their toe into the water as post-deadline play begins tonight in Manhattan. Columbus will face a New York Rangers team that is tied with the Blue Jackets for the final wild card spot in the Eastern Conference, a sign that the games will only increase in importance from here on out.
The Blue Jackets welcomed forwards Luke Kunin and Christian Fischer into the fold the past few days, and they’ll look to see how those players integrate themselves into the team down the stretch. The additions – along with the recent returns to health for Boone Jenner and Yegor Chinakhov – meant some line juggling in practice Saturday, and head coach Dean Evason said the Blue Jackets will have to see how things shake out from here.
“To this point, I think we’ve kept our lines pretty much the same, but it’s definitely a situation and an opportunity for us to experiment a little bit,” Evason said. “Hopefully we make the right choice, but you’re always trying to find some chemistry. Obviously, we know the players that have been here, who seems to fit well or does well together. We’ll play around a little bit, but hopefully we don’t have to do a lot of it and we can get some chemistry in that area.”
The sooner the better, as the Blue Jackets have followed a four-game win streak out of the 4 Nations Face-Off with consecutive losses earlier this week at Tampa Bay (6-2) and Florida (3-0). Those were tough setbacks as the Blue Jackets had an opportunity to create some space between themselves and the rest of the teams in the playoff hunt, but Evason said Saturday that his team had to tip its hat to two of the best squads in the league.
“They’re both really good teams that are playing extremely well right now,” Evason said. “Not that we’re not a good team and we’re playing well, but both of those teams seem to be really rolling, and we couldn’t get traction in either game, certainly in the Florida game. … We gave ourselves an opportunity in both games, we thought, but those two teams are I’m sure the cream of the crop. They’re very high up obviously in the rankings and what have you, but I think we didn’t show like we wanted to.”
Thursday’s loss to the Panthers could be seen as particularly dispiriting as the Blue Jackets didn’t get on the board, but veteran forward James van Riemsdyk said that’s emblematic of playoff-style hockey.
“You gotta fight for every inch down the stretch into the playoffs,” van Riemsdyk said. “Those two teams, especially these last couple of games, those are two teams that have been successful the last few years here. I think it’s just learning from that a little bit and knowing that style of play that it’s going to take for us to be successful to our identity, which we’ve done a lot of the year. So I think I expect a good response game for us on our next one.”
Know The Foe: New York Rangers
Head coach: Peter Laviolette (Second season)
Team stats: Goals per game: 3.03 (13th) | Scoring defense: 3.02 (20th) | PP: 19.6 percent (22nd) | PK: 83.0 percent (3rd)
The narrative: With a star-studded roster and two appearances in the Eastern Conference Final in the last three seasons, the Rangers came into the season as a Stanley Cup contender, but this year has been a roller coaster. Convinced his roster needed some major changes, general manager Chris Drury traded captain Jacob Trouba in November and later added standout forward J.T. Miller, but the Rangers enter this game tied with the Blue Jackets for the second wild card spot in the Eastern Conference.
Team leaders: The Bread Man keeps baking up points in the Big Apple, as former Blue Jackets forward Artemi Panarin is averaging over a point per game for the eighth straight season with team-best totals of 27 goals and 66 points. Defenseman Adam Fox has struggled to put the puck in the net this season (five goals) but is still facilitating the offense with a team-high 43 assists (fifth among NHL defensemen), while Mike Zibanejad (14-31-45), Vincent Trocheck (17-23-40) and Miller (7-7-14 in 12 games) follow and Chris Kreider has 17 goals.
Igor Shesterkin has again been solid in net with a 21-21-4 record, 2.89 GAA and .905 save percentage in 46 starts after getting the nod yesterday in Ottawa, while Jonathan Quick (9-5-2, 2.92, .903) has been a more than capable backup.
What’s new: The Rangers have been the epitome of the roller coaster at New York-New York, starting 12-4-1, following that with a 4-15-0 stretch, and now riding a 7-3-2 run coming into tonight’s game after yesterday’s shootout loss in Ottawa. Goal scoring seems to be the big variable, as the Rangers are 7-0-1 when scoring at least three goals in that recent stretch and 0-3-1 when scoring two or less. In a season of upheaval, the trade deadline saw Reilly Smith, Jimmy Vesey and Ryan Lindgren shipped out and Jusso Parsinen, Nicolas Aube-Kubel, Calvin de Haan and Carson Soucy added.
Trending: Columbus was 2-1-1 a year ago against the Rangers but 0-1-1 this year, getting a point in a 1-0 shootout loss to the Rangers in MSG in January before a 4-3 setback at home Feb. 8.
Former CBJ: Panarin has continued his high-scoring ways in Manhattan since signing with the team after the 2018-19 season, while Quick is a CBJ alum in name only after being with the team for a few days at the 2023 trade deadline.
