Vesey eases Rangers past Blue Jackets
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Jimmy Vesey scored to snap a tie with 6:32 remaining in the third period as the New York Rangers posted a 3-2 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Monday.
Dan Girardi and Kevin Hayes also scored and Antti Raanta made 30 saves for New York.
Former Ranger Brandon Dubinsky and Nick Foligno scored for Columbus. Sergei Bobrovsky turned aside 20 shots in the loss.
Dubinsky scored his eighth goal of the season 8:12 into the first period. Just after a Pavel Buchnevich delay of game penalty expired, Brandon Saad skated past the net and wired a no-look backward pass to Dubinsky, who knocked a shot past Raanta from the bottom of the left circle. Saad and Seth Jones each had an assist.
Dubinsky has five goals and eight assists in the past 14 games.
New York forged a tie 12 seconds into the second period as Columbus allowed its first short-handed goal against of the season.
Off a Sam Gagner faceoff, J.T. Miller collected the puck and skated into the zone, curled around in the right circle and sent a pass to Hayes. Hayes had the puck knocked away, but Girardi was there to collect it and shot it past an unsuspecting Bobrovsky to make it 1-1.
The Blue Jackets were the last team in the league to allow a short-handed goal.
New York claimed a 2-1 lead 4:49 into the third as Hayes took the puck off David Savard's stick in the neutral zone and skated unchallenged to the net. His shot went underneath a sprawling Bobrovsky for his 15th goal of the season.
Foligno tied the game at 11:53 into the third when his shot from behind the net banked off Miller's skate to beat Raanta.
Vesey answered 90 seconds later when he carried the puck down the right side and past Savard before threading the puck between Bobrovsky and the post. It was his second goal in 17 games. Derek Stepan and Nick Holden assisted.
Scott Hartnell suffered a lower-body injury early in the game when he crashed into the boards after chasing down a puck against Holden. He did not play the final two periods of the game.
NOTES: Rangers D Dan Girardi returned to the lineup after missing two games with an ankle injury. ... New York G Antti Raanta started in net for the first time since Jan 14 when he left after the first period with a lower-body injury. His last complete game was Dec. 29. ... Columbus remains the only team in the NHL to not have lost three consecutive games this season. The Blue Jackets have only lost back-to-back games in regulation three times. ... Blue Jackets D Scott Harrington and D Dalton Prout were scratched. ... New York scratched D Adam Clendening, F Matt Puempel and C Brandon Pirri.