For the first time since replacing Dean Evason with Rick Bowness behind the bench, the Columbus Blue Jackets are on a losing streak.
After surging into the playoff race under their new coach, the Blue Jackets attempt to avoid a third straight loss Monday night when they visit the New York Rangers.
The Blue Jackets were last in the Eastern Conference with 45 points and seven points out of the final wild-card spot when they fired Evason on Jan. 12. Columbus is 10-2-1 since that point under Bowness, who initially announced his retirement after the Winnipeg Jets lost in the first round of the 2024 playoffs.
The Blue Jackets headed into the Olympics hiatus four points out of a playoff spot and are five out after returning from the break with a 4-2 loss in Boston on Thursday and a 4-3 overtime loss to the visiting New York Islanders on Saturday night.
Isac Lundestrom and Mason Marchment scored to give the Blue Jackets a two-goal lead 3:58 into the second. Columbus allowed two goals in 22 seconds and another goal 1:48 before Adam Fantilli scored the tying goal late in the second.
“(Across the two) games we probably deserved four points, and we came away with one against two teams we’re chasing, and we only have 24 games left now,” Columbus defenseman Zach Werenski said. “So, extremely disappointing. But in saying that, we’ve got a lot of hockey left and we’re still in it, so we’ll move on to the Rangers on Monday.”
Werenski had two assists in the loss and has two goals and 11 assists in a career-high nine-game points streak, which is the longest by a defenseman in team history.
The struggling Rangers earned a 2-1 shootout win in Columbus on Nov. 15 and are attempting to earn consecutive wins for the first time since Dec. 18-20. New York avoided its first six-game losing streak since 2019 on Saturday afternoon when Vincent Trocheck scored in the only round of the shootout in a 3-2 victory over the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins.
The Rangers faced a two-goal deficit 1:59 into the second period before Mika Zibanejad scored a power-play goal with 10 minutes left in the second, and Taylor Raddysh scored the tying goal 2:57 into the third. Until Trocheck scored, Igor Shesterkin helped them get a point with a 31-save performance that featured a point-blank stop on Evgeni Malkin with 10 seconds left in overtime.
Despite the comeback, New York is 3-11-2 in its past 16 games since a 5-1 win over the Florida Panthers on Jan. 2 at the Winter Classic. The Rangers are also 2-5-2 in their past nine home games and are seeking consecutive home wins for the first time this season heading into their penultimate game before Friday’s trade deadline.
“There’s a lot of things I wish could have gone different, but I can’t change it now, right?” Zibanejad said. “I don’t think it helps you to regret things or wish it was different. We have to deal with it. That’s it. This is the situation that we’re in, and we’ll try to do the best out of it.”
