COLUMBUS — Last Sunday, when the Rangers got blown out at home by Columbus, Mika Zibanejad and Vincent Trocheck stressed that the team didn’t have structural defensive issues. They believed the Rangers were just making big mistakes that were costing them in big ways.
Since that loss, New York has tightened up. Its team defense was better in Winnipeg, albeit in a loss, and then it limited Minnesota’s looks in an overtime win Thursday. Saturday’s rematch with Columbus — the biggest game of the season to date — was perhaps their best effort yet. The Rangers won 4-0, jumping Columbus in the standings.
Zibanejad said pregame that the Rangers couldn’t afford to shoot themselves in the foot. They didn’t and Columbus’s goal cannon didn’t shoot itself in the air.
“That’s three periods, three games in a row where I thought we defended well, defended hard,” Peter Laviolette said. “It gives us a chance to be successful.”
“Two teams almost playing a little playoff-like hockey,” Adam Fox added. “I don’t know if we’re trying to get into track meets this time of the year.”
Here are takeaways from the win, which moves the Rangers into a playoff spot by total points.
Zibanejad’s aggressiveness pays off early
The Blue Jackets generated more than the Rangers to start the game, but Zibanejad made sure New York got the most dangerous chance of the opening stretch. He pressured Damon Severson in the offensive zone, sending the puck toward the end boards. Daniil Tarasov left his net to play the puck, but Zibanejad got there first. He backhanded it to Alexis Lafrenière, who easily put it into the net before Tarasov could dive back. That snapped a 14-game goalless drought for the struggling winger.
“I didn’t have much to do there,” Lafrenière said. “Really good forecheck by Mika.”
Zibanejad had another strong, physical play early in the first. He shoved Denton Mateychuk away from a puck, which led to a scoring chance. The Rangers finished the night with 68 percent of the expected goal share with him on the ice.
“He’s been that way for a while now,” Laviolette said. “He’s played really, really well for us. It’s the way he’s defending, the way he’s competing and battling. He’s creating, he’s playing in high gears.”
With the assist, Zibanejad has 20 points over his past 17 games.
Top six rolls
For much of this year, the Rangers have not had two top-six lines functioning at a high level. That’s changed the past couple games. Laviolette might have found something, at least temporarily, in moving Lafrenière back to his natural left side and putting him on a line with J.T. Miller and Mika Zibanejad. That led to the team’s first goal, and Vincent Trocheck and Artemi Panarin have remained productive while teamed with Will Cuylle instead of Lafrenière.
“Just a minor change, but it’s working so far,” Laviolette said.
Miller’s line took care of the scoring in the first period, and then Panarin and Trocheck were on for both the Rangers’ other two even-strength goals. Panarin flung a puck past Daniil Tarasov shortly after New York killed off a penalty in the second period, then drew a tripping penalty on countryman Kirill Marchenko later in the frame.
Trocheck’s full line came through with a game-sealing goal in the third. After a largely quiet period — we’ll get to that momentarily — Cuylle intercepted a Blue Jackets’ breakout attempt, then sprung Panarin on a two-on-one with Trocheck. Panarin fed his centerman, who beat Tarasov.
Cuylle picks a pocket, Panarin with the perfect feed, and Trocheck buries it for a 3-0 #NYR lead! @NYRangers pic.twitter.com/LbqWiUfgMT
— Rangers on MSG (@RangersMSGN) March 16, 2025
Rangers execute a shut-down third
New York didn’t look particularly dangerous for most of the third period. That didn’t matter, because the Rangers were protecting a lead and Columbus didn’t have many looks either. The teams combined for only two shots, both by Columbus, in the first 10 minutes of the period. It was low-event, defense-first hockey, which was fine with the Rangers.
“When you have a 2-0 lead, boring hockey isn’t a bad thing,” Fox said. “It was definitely better too in terms of not just sitting back on our heels and getting nothing. We got some chances there, played a bit in their end. That’s definitely how we want to play a lot of third periods with the lead.”
New York eventually capitalized on chance with Trocheck’s first goal, and then the center further slammed the door with an empty-net, short-handed goal late.
Fox returns
After missing eight games with an upper-body injury, Adam Fox returned and played 20:36, second among the Rangers’ defensemen to only K’Andre Miller. He picked up an assist on Trocheck’s empty-net goal.
“I thought he got better every minute as the game went on,” Laviolette said. “By the third period it looked like he was finding his groove.”
“He’s a massive part of our team,” Trocheck added.
Fox immediately jumped back in on the top power-play unit. The group generated sufficiently well on its only opportunity, but Tarasov made a save on a point-blank Zibanejad shot, then managed to get his glove in the way of a Chris Kreider rebound attempt. Kreider couldn’t quite get enough air under the puck to raise it over the goalie’s glove.
Other notes
• With Fox back in the lineup, the Rangers made defenseman Carson Soucy a healthy scratch. He had played only four games since New York acquired him from Vancouver. All three Rangers’ deadline additions — Soucy, Juuso Pärssinen and Calvin de Haan — were healthy scratches against Columbus.
• The Rangers are in a playoff spot by total points, but Montreal still has a small lead in points percentage because it has a game in hand. New York leads 72-71 in points.
• Igor Shesterkin had another excellent night, saving 2.63 goals more than expected, according to Natural Stat Trick. The Rangers play again Sunday against Edmonton, and Laviolette did not say whether he’d consider starting the star goalie on the second half of a back-to-back.
• After averaging more than 23 minutes of ice time a night during Fox’s absence, K’Andre Miller led the Rangers with 23:36 of ice time.
“I think he’s been excellent,” Laviolette said. “He’s been skating the puck, moving the puck, defending well. I think he and (defensive partner Will Borgen) have been taking on tough minutes, play against the top lines as much as possible. I think his game has been right on point. It’s really starting to show down the stretch here.”
(Photo: Joseph Maiorana / Imagn Images)
