Panarin's first goal lifts Blue Jackets past Rangers
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Artemi Panarin picked a great time to notch his first goal for the Columbus Blue Jackets.
The 25-year-old left winger's goal with 12:35 left in the third period proved to be the difference as Columbus edged the New York Rangers 3-1 on Friday night.
Panarin, acquired in a trade from Chicago in June, skated down the center of the ice, starting from his team's blue line, weaving through multiple Rangers before finally beating goaltender Henrik Lundqvist from the high slot.
The entertaining goal upstaged what had been to that point a riveting matchup between Lundqvist and Blue Jackets goalie Sergei Bobrovsky.
Kevin Hayes put the Rangers (1-4-0) ahead in the first period. Moments after Columbus (3-1-0) failed to cash in on a power play, the center capitalized on a turnover at center ice to beat Bobrovsky unassisted on a break away with 5:25 left in the period.
It was Bobrovsky's turn to shine in the second as he set aside all 18 shots he faced in the period. Then, with 45.8 seconds remaining in the period, Seth Jones' slap shot hit off Mika Zibanejad to beat Lundqvist and tie the game.
Alexander Wennberg and Zach Werenski got the assists on Jones' first goal of the year.
The game almost started badly for Lundqvist.
After giving up a goal in the opening minute of Tuesday's 3-1 loss against St. Louis, Matt Calvert appeared to deflect one past him just 27 seconds into the game.
However, coach Alain Vigneault challenged the call, claiming the Blue Jackets winger interfered with Lundqvist and officials overturned the call.
Lundqvist then set aside 13 Columbus shots in the period to set the tempo for the Rangers. That was despite the Blue Jackets controlling the puck in the Rangers end for the final 73 seconds. The Swede made two saves, saw teammates block two more shots and another go just wide of the net.
Bobrovsky made 37 saves, and Lundqvist finished with 40.
Lukas Sedlak scored an empty-net goal with six seconds left to finish the scoring.
NOTES: Blue Jackets LW Nick Foligno skated in his 700th career game Friday and his 349th for Columbus. ... New York scratched D Steve Kampfer and D Tony DeAngelo. ... Columbus scratched D Scott Harrington and LW Markus Hannikainen Blue Jackets D Gabriel Carlsson left the game due to an upper-body injury. ... Both New York C Mika Zibanejad (four games) and Columbus LW Sonny Milano (three) saw their goal-scoring streaks to start the season end.