Rangers Win the Race to 40, Cole Sillinger Scored Lone Goal 4-1 2/28/24

 

Also him pic.twitter.com/5UxUXvQQfJ

— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) February 29, 2024

*Sorry for the lack of photos! Hoping to get permission eventually.*

   Cole Sillinger scored the lone goal for the Columbus Blue Jackets in a 4-1 loss against the New York Rangers on Wednesday, February 28th at the Madison Square Garden. The Rangers won their 40th win of the season in their 60th game... they tied the 1972-73 Rangers for the fastest to reach this mark in team history. Artemi Panarin recorded three points (two goals, one assist) in their 4-1 victory.

Blue Jackets lines against the Rangers:

Gaudreau - Jenner - Roslovic

Chinakhov - Voronkov - Marchenko

Johnson - Sillinger - Nylander

Danforth - Kuraly - Olivier

Werenski - Boqvist

Provorov - Severson

Bean - Gudbranson

Merzlikins

Tarasov

Rangers lineup against the Blue Jackets:

Kreider - Zibanejad - Kakko

Panarin - Trocheck - Lafreniere

Cuylle - Brodzinski - Vesey

Edstrom - Goodrow - Rempe

Lindgren - Fox

Miller - Trouba

Gustafsson - Schneider

Shesterkin

Quick

   The first period stayed completely scoreless.

   Artemi Panarin started the scoring with his 34th goal of the season, recording his 80th point this season at 12:43 of the second period. In the left circle, Jack Roslovic won a face-off from Vincent Trocheck toward the wall... Panarin grabbed the puck from Damon Severson, bounced off the lineman's skate, back to Panarin, and he beat Elvis Merzlikins through the legs with a quick shot. With 5:41 remaining in the middle frame on the power play, Adam Fox shot from between the circles, the puck going past Merzlikins' glove after Erik Gudbranson, who was in the defensive zone, found Fox and he cut down the blue line through the middle.

   Putting Columbus on the board to avoid being shutout, Cole Sillinger made it a 2-1 game early into the third at 16:36. Sillinger scored a 4-on-4 goal while Igor Shesterkin was out of position after a turnover. The puck was picked up by Damon Severson on the half wall and put it towards the net as Shesterkin clambered to get back... Sillinger deflected it off Shesterkin, got the puck back, and then scored. Chris Kreider extended the lead to 3-1 at 52.6 remaining in the final frame... Artemi Panarin struck his second of the night and his 35th of the season for the 4-1 final.

Cole Sillinger on if the team thought they'd get the tying goal and the loss: "Absolutely, that's what you want to think. Obviously, we had our looks there and had opportunities to tie it up. You give that team time and space, maybe a couple of turnovers... they obviously have a pretty good transition and can make you pay. I thought we tightened things up there in the second and third, we came close to getting up."

Notes:

- Boone Jenner has played 700 NHL career games... Alex Nylander has played 100 NHL career games.

- Elvis Merzlikins made 26 saves for Columbus and Igor Shesterkin made 30 saves for New York.

- Artemi Panarin has 82 points this season... this is the fourth time in five seasons with the New York Rangers that he's gotten at least 80. Panarin became the third player in Rangers history with at least four 80-point seasons on the team and he joins Mark Messier (five) and Rod Gilbert (four).

- Adam Fox scored his 10th of the season, and Chris Kreider had one goal and an assist.

  Fox is the first Rangers defenseman to score at least 10 goals in three straight games since Brian Leetch did it in four 2000-04. Kreider has three straight seasons with 30 goals... He is the seventh player in Rangers history, the first since Mike Gartner had three straight 40-goal seasons from 1990-93.

IN A SILLY STATE OF MIND 🤩@FanaticsBook | #CBJ pic.twitter.com/nLfRwkkiXB

— Columbus Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) February 29, 2024

Postgame: Artemi Panarin & Jacob Trouba

Postgame: Peter Laviolette