The New York Rangers got their revenge on the Columbus Blue Jackets on Wednesday night, leveraging another huge Artemi Panarin performance in a 4-1 win at Madison Square Garden.
The Russian superstar led the way with two goals and an assist, giving him 82 points on the season and marking the fourth time in five seasons with the Rangers he’s scored at least 80.
At the same time, the Breadman became just the third player in Blueshirts history with at least four 80-point seasons with the team, according to NHL.com’s Dan Rosen. The only other New York skaters to do it? Mark Messier and Rod Gilbert.
It’s excellent company for Panarin, who continues to lead the way for the Eastern Conference-leading Rangers. This team has lost just one of its last 12 games — the Blue Jackets spoiled what would have been a franchise-record 11 consecutive wins — to improve to a phenomenal 40-17-3 on the campaign.
“The conversation in the locker room was definitely to get back after the last game and return the debt to Columbus,” the Breadman said after the victory.
Rangers just keep on rolling
After a difficult month of January that saw New York go 5-7-2, February was a completely different animal. The Rangers closed the 29-day slate 10-1, and Igor Shesterkin went 7-0-0 with a 1.72 goals-against average and .953 save percentage in that stretch.
“That was the plan when we hit February was to have it be a better month and have our actions speak for what we’re looking for inside of that month,” Rangers bench boss Peter Laviolette explained. “I think the guys did a pretty good job. To fight back on just this last game where we didn’t win [three] nights before, we came back and ended it the way we wanted to end it. We’re moving on. We’ve got to take on March and go from there.”
With the victory, the Blueshirts also took just 60 tries to win 40 games — tying the 1972-73 Rangers for the fastest squad to reach the mark in team history, per Rosen.
“That’s definitely, definitely an accomplishment, but just continue to build our game,” said Rangers captain Jacob Trouba. “There’s no real trophies handed out now. It feels great, but who really cares.”
The show goes on in the Big Apple for Artemi Panarin and the Rangers, who will be back in action against the Maple Leafs in Toronto on Saturday night.
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