Johnson scores lone goal, Blue Jackets defeat Rangers in OT

COLUMBUS -- Kent Johnson scored at 3:26 of overtime, giving the Columbus Blue Jackets a 1-0 victory against the New York Rangers at Nationwide Arena on Saturday.

Johnson came off the bench to replace Adam Fantilli as the puck went low to Charlie Coyle on the right side, where Coyle passed across to Zach Werenski. Johnson then took a cross-ice pass from Werenski and scored with a one-timer from above the right face-off circle.

“Charlie made a good play and I was hoping it'd come back to me, and ‘Z’ (Werenski) was so smart, found me there, and perfect weight on the pass, like right in the wheelhouse,” Johnson said. “Such a good pass by Z that definitely made the play, and luckily I hit a good spot.”

Jet Greaves made 29 saves for the Blue Jackets (3-3-0), who had lost two in a row. It was his first shutout of the season and fifth in 77 NHL starts.

The Blue Jackets lost 7-3 to the Florida Panthers in their last game on Tuesday and were challenged in the media several times by coach Rick Bowness.

He referred after the game Saturday to Milwaukee Brewers manager Pat Murphy, whose team won the National League Championship Series this week against the Los Angeles Dodgers despite having a much lower player payroll.

“We used the Murphy quote from the Milwaukee Brewers the other day: ‘They have Hall of Famers. We've got gamers.’ So we used that the other day,” Bowness said. “We wanted to be gamers tonight. We were. Everyone contributed.

“We held that team to I think 10 or 12 scoring chances, 5-on-5. That's the best 60-minute effort we put, or whatever, 63 or whatever it was. That's the best game we put together all year for sure.”

Dylan Garand made 28 saves for the Rangers (6-3-1), who dropped their second straight game, including a 7-1 loss at the New Jersey Devils on Thursday. 

“I thought it was a great response by us,” Garand said. “Obviously, last game was not good. Obviously, sometimes that happens and you don't really feel good about yourself.

“But I really liked the way we responded. I thought we battled hard, competed hard. That was a good game. That was a good team over there.

“Our D-corps is so good. And especially tonight, again, the box-outs have been really good, making my job easy.”

New York coach Mike Sullivan lauded the improved play.

“We defended better as a group of five when we were on the ice,” he said. “Listen, Columbus has some dynamic people over there offensively.

“They're a gifted team and they score a lot of goals, so it was every bit as big a challenge as it was in Jersey. I just thought we did a much better job collectively defending as a group, protecting the inside of the ice.”

After tying a team record by allowing four power-play goals at home against the Panthers, the Blue Jackets were 3-for-3 on the penalty kill, all in the third period. 

“Our penalty kill was great,” Greaves said. “I thought when there were rebounds around the net, the guys did a good job of clearing it. And the best way you defend is by spending time in the O-zone.

“We did a lot of that tonight. In a scoreless game like that, at one point the goalies kind of look at one another 200 feet away and wonder who's going to blink first. It's fun to be in games like that.”

The Rangers also were 3-for-3 on the kill and are 29-for-31 (93.5 percent) this season.

“It (stinks) our power play can't come up with one in the third,” New York captain J.T. Miller said. “You get three cracks in the third, you’ve got help the team right there. We could have used one.”

NOTES: Johnson has scored a goal in three straight games and has four goals in six games this season after finishing with seven in 76 games last season. … Blue Jackets forward Luca Del Bel Belluz played 5:54 with three hits in his season debut. He replaced forward Dmitri Voronkov, who was benched after having one assist through five games. … Rangers forward Alexis Lafreniere had his six-game point streak end (11 points; seven goals, four assists). The streak was tied for his NHL career high.