Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella, however, thinks the best might be yet to come. That's what he hopes, anyway.
Several top players for Columbus are off to slow starts offensively, including Brandon Dubinsky, Alex Wennberg and Artemi Panarin, but their career numbers suggest they're due to heat up soon. The trick will be combining it with scoring from their blue line, led by Zach Werenski and Seth Jones, and depth scoring from guys like Josh Anderson and Oliver Bjorkstrand.
"If we can get 'em both married a little bit, then you have something," Tortorella said. "But you never know how it works. Maybe they get going, and then the other guys can't find their way."
The Blue Jackets will probably need to marry those two scoring options against the Rangers, who've won three straight games and scored at least four goals in four of their past five games.
SERIES RECORD
2017-18 Season: (0-1-0). This is the second of four games this season. The Blue Jackets will host the Rangers on Nov. 17 and visit Madison Square Garden for the finale Mar. 20, 2018.
All-time: 13-13-3 overall; 5-4-3 at Madison Square Garden
"BY THE NUMBERS"
EYES ON: THE RANGERS
EYES ON: THE BLUE JACKETS
QUOTABLES
"It's not difficult. It's what we are right now, and you've got to find a way. We're not the only team that is still trying to figure out maybe what their lines are, and what our depth is, as far as the forward lines. So, we've got to work through it." -Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella
"Oh, tell him to shut up." - Tortorella, when told prior to the game against the Lightning that Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said the Blue Jackets were better since the teams played Oct. 19 at Nationwide Arena.
"It's a really good lesson, I think, for our league right now. Not to go on, and get in trouble, but our guys ran. They ran hard. They ran hard on the ice, and as I'm finding out, they ran hard off the ice. But they did it together. That's what they say to me is, 'That's what helped us win.'" -Tortorella on 2004 Tampa Bay Lightning, who won the Stanley Cup with Tortorella as coach.
"There's no doubt that's been a real positive, as far as the mind-set that we just don't stop, and we just keep plugging away." - Rangers coach Alain Vigneault
"We saw them earlier this year. They're a team that has a lot of depth up front, and some great defenseman too, and obviously a bigtime goaltender. So, there are a lot of areas that we're going to be tested." - Rangers defenseman Ryan McDonagh on the Blue Jackets
PROJECTED LINEUPS
BLUE JACKETS
Forward lines
Artemi Panarin - Nick Foligno - Josh Anderson
Boone Jenner - Brandon Dubinsky - Oliver Bjorkstrand
Tyler Motte - Alexander Wennberg - Markus Hannikainen
Sonny Milano - Pierre-Luc Dubois - Zac Dalpe
Defense pairings
Zach Werenski - Seth Jones
Jack Johnson - David Savard
Ryan Murray - Markus Nutivaara
Goaltenders
Sergei Bobrovsky
OR
Joonas Korpisalo
Out:Gabriel Carlsson, Matt Calvert (upper body), Scott Harrington
Injured reserve:Cam Atkinson (lower body), Lukas Sedlak (ankle)
(NOTE: After losing Calvert, Tortorella mixed and matched forwards quite a bit. After the game, Tortorella said he has no idea what the lines would look like without Calvert or Atkinson.)
RANGERS
Forward lines
Chris Kreider - Mika Zibanejad - Pavel Buchnevich
Rick Nash - Kevin Hayes - Mats Zuccarello
Jimmy Vesey - David Desharnais - J.T. Miller
Michael Grabner -Boo Nieves - Jesper Fast
Defense pairings
Marc Staal - Steven Kampfer
Nick Holden - Ryan McDonagh
Brady Skjei - Kevin Shattenkirk
Goaltenders
Henrik Lundqvist
Ondrej Pavelec
Out: Paul Carey, Brendan Smith
Injured reserve: None
