Rangers get past Blue Jackets with late goal

COLUMBUS -- Will Cuylle scored his second goal of the game at 18:21 of the third period to give the New York Rangers a 4-3 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena on Saturday.

Cuylle scored from the right circle on a carom off the wall after tying the game 3-3 at 1:57 of the third from above the right circle.

“We knew we had to make at least get one goal trying to get to overtime, and then we were just trying to get lots of pucks to the net,” Cuylle said. “I felt like we kind of outplayed them most of the period. So that was kind of just the game plan, that desperation we really hadn’t had the last couple of games.”

Mika Zibanejad had a goal and an assist, and Vincent Trocheck had two assists for the Rangers (27-24-4), who lost 3-2 at home to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday. Jonathan Quick made 22 saves.

“Huge, especially after last night,” Zibanejad said. “Bounced back and again, not just getting two points, but making sure that we got it done before overtime and not getting them another point because we're chasing them.”

Zach Werenski had an assist to extend his home point streak to 21 games for the Blue Jackets (26-22-8), who have lost four straight heading into the 4 Nations Face-Off from Wednesday to Feb. 20. Elvis Merzlikins made 36 saves.

“It's tough going into the break on that, our last game before the break ending that way,” Werenski said. “But that stuff happens. It is what it is. We'll learn from it. We'll move forward and get ready for the last 25 games, or whatever it is.”

Arthur Kaliyev made it 1-0 Rangers at 1:56 of the first period with a wraparound at the right post.

Kent Johnson tied it 1-1 at 14:31 from a low angle on the right side from a pass from Werenski.
Werenski, who will play for the United States at the 4 Nations Face-Off, tied Bobby Orr (1970-71) for the fourth-longest home streak by a defenseman in NHL history. Orr holds the record of 25 games in 1974-75.

Werenski has 38 points (13 goals, 25 assists) during the streak.

Justin Danforth scored at 15:29 to make it 2-1 with a redirect of a Jack Johnson shot.

Zibanejad, who will play for Sweden at the 4 Nations Face-Off, made it 2-2 at 6:38 of the second period during 4-on-4 play. He was at the left dot to convert a cross-ice pass from Adam Fox. Chris Kreider also assisted. Kreider, Trocheck, Fox and J.T. Miller will represent the U.S at the 4 Nations Face-Off.

James van Riemsdyk put the Blue Jackets up 3-2 at 17:17 on a backdoor tap-in at the left post from a Damon Severson pass.

“We've definitely had a lot of guys step up,” van Riemsdyk said. “We've had different people go down, and that's been a strength with our team, just kind of how tight now we are. Getting some pretty good players back after the break, that's going to be, obviously, a big lift to the group.”

His goal wasn’t enough to prevent the Rangers from winning for the third time in four games.

“There's games that go by that you wish you played better, and then there's been a lot of games that we won to put ourselves back up in the mix anyway,” New York coach Peter Laviolette said. “Seemed to get a little bit of help earlier today, hopefully we get a little bit more. We head into the break and when we come back out of it, we’ve got to win games.”

Blue Jackets coach Dean Evason is not discouraged despite the skid.

“We played our [butts] off,” he said. “We got a tough break. They had a good stick. At the end, we hit a couple of crossbars. We've given ourselves an opportunity to win every single night and when we get back off this break, we're going to do that again.”

NOTES: Fox has four points (goal, three assists) during a four-game point streak. He became the fifth Rangers player and first defenseman with five straight 40-assist seasons. … Zibanejad has eight points (two goals, six assists) in the past five games. … Rangers defenseman Urho Vaakanainen, who will play for Finland at the 4 Nations Face-Off, played 15:37 after missing the previous two games because of illness.