FINAL: Blue Jackets 7, Rangers 5

The Blue Jackets (27-15-3) showed no ill effects of playing their fourth game in six days, earning a 7-5 victory over the visiting New York Rangers (18-20-7) at Nationwide Arena on Sunday night for the team's third straight win.
Game in a Paragraph
On a day Rick Nash dropped the ceremonial first puck before the game, the Blue Jackets honored their all-time leading goal-scorer by filling up the net. Six different Blue Jackets scored, with three goals in the final six minutes of the second period breaking a 2-2 tie and giving Columbus a lead it would carry home.

Quote of the Game
Head coach John Tortorella: "I thought we made some good offensive plays. We had the puck all night long, but we squeak one out. I thought we were gonna get through it without it turning into a cluster ... fun, we'll put it that way. ... I thought we played good. We had a lot of good minutes in the game. We had the puck the whole night."
CBJ Notables
Quick Recap
Pierre-Luc Dubois hit the post just 1:20 in, and that could have been a clue what was to come with plenty of scoring chances on the way.
It was New York that took the first lead against the grain of play when Ryan Strome scored 4:34 in, completing a 2-on-1 with a slam-dunk finish past Sergei Bobrovsky off a pass from Filip Chytil.
Columbus needed just 34 seconds to tie it up though with a goal by Panarin. Off a faceoff, Atkinson helped push the puck to Panarin's left-wing spot, and he drilled a shot past goalie Alexandar Georgiev for his 17th goal of the year.
Columbus then made it 2-1 at 8:55 on a goal by Anthony Duclair. The first-year Blue Jacket netted his 10th of the year on a nice individual effort, taking a pass from Markus Nutivaara along the right-wing boards, using his speed to rush by Kevin Shattenkirk, and burying a finish past Georgiev.

The Blue Jackets finished the first period with 19 shots on goal, a team high for a period this year, but it was a 2-2 game after one when the Rangers scored with 1:04 left. With the teams skating 4-on-4, Chris Kreider scored his 21st of the year when he picked a puck out of traffic in front and slid it past Bobrovsky before he could react.
One of the biggest moments of the game came midway through the second when Columbus had to kill 70 seconds of 5-on-3 action with Josh Anderson and Boone Jenner in the box. From there, the Blue Jackets scored three times in the rest of the period. Atkinson got his team-best 26th goal of the year at 14:00, expertly deflecting a shot from the blue line by Zach Werenski into the net. It was then 4-2 at 17:49 as Oliver Bjorkstrand passed out from behind the net to Sedlak for a quick finish past Georgiev.
"I didn't have time to think, thank God," Sedlak said. "I have a tendency to overthink it seems when I have time. I start thinking about what to do rather than just shoot. I didn't have time today. I'm lucky, I guess."

Yet again, though, the Rangers answered at 18:58 when Mats Zuccarello scored past a screened Bobrovsky just off a faceoff, but Columbus had the answer. With just 2.0 seconds left on the clock in the second, Ryan Murray won a race to a puck and fed Foligno at the far post for a redirection into the net to make it 5-3.
Columbus kept the energy going into the third and took a 6-3 lead 5:29 into the third. Panarin won the puck down low and fed an onrushing David Savard for a snipe off the back bar and out past Georgiev.
New York made things interesting when Zuccarello scored with 5:00 left when he found a rebound below the goal line and banked it in off Bobrovsky's back. Then with 3:12 to go, after a huge save by Bobrovsky on Zuccarello, Columbus lost a defensive zone faceoff and Jimmy Vesey scored at the back post to make it 6-5.
New York wanted to push for the equalizer, but the Jackets got the puck deep and put the game on ice with 1:46 to go. The captain made the play for the Blue Jackets, with Foligno winning a battle below the goal line, skating out to the side of the net and sneaking the puck past Georgiev.

"I thought we played with energy and played hard," Tortorella said. "Almost got through a game in a normal way of doing things, but you just don't do it anymore in this league."
By the Numbers
Panarin scored his eighth goal in the last 11 games and now has 11 goals in 11 career games vs. New York. … Columbus is 10-10-1 when the opponent scores first. … Georgiev had an assist on Kreider's goal, the goalie's second of the season. … Columbus killed all three New York power plays, boosting the PK to 35 for its last 38. … Murray had two assists and now has four multi-point games on the season. … Werenski played his 200th NHL game. … Riley Nash assisted on Sedlak's goal for his first point since Nov. 29. … With Savard's goal, each of the top six CBJ defensemen have at least 10 points on the year. … Columbus won its third straight home game. … Columbus went 0-for-5 on the power play. ... Columbus held a 40-27 advantage in shots and a 47-21 edge in the faceoff circle. ... Bobrovsky made 22 saves while Georgiev had 33.
Roster Report
Murray returned to the Columbus lineup after missing Saturday night's game with illness. He slotted in for Dean Kukan. Scratches were forward Kole Sherwood and defensemen Kukan and Gabriel Carlsson.
Up Next
The Blue Jackets continue their homestand at Nationwide Arena on Tuesday night with another Metro Division clash against New Jersey at 7 p.m. (Fox Sports Ohio, Fox Sports app, 97.1 The Fan).