Jones, Wennberg fuel Blue Jackets past Rangers
NEW YORK -- All-Star defenseman Seth Jones scored twice as the Columbus Blue Jackets defeated the New York Rangers 6-4 at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night.
The Blue Jackets grabbed a 6-0 lead early in the third period on a Matt Calvert goal before Jimmy Vesey, Chris Kreider, Michael Grabner and Kevin Klein scored for the Rangers to make the game appear closer than it was.
Alex Wennberg had a goal and two assists from the Blue Jackets, who also received goals from Nick Foligno and Brandon Saad. Backup goaltender Joonas Korpisalo stopped 33 shots to earn the win.
Rangers starting goaltender Henrik Lundqvist was pulled in the second period after allowing three goals on 16 shots. Antti Raanta gave up three goals on 10 shots in relief.
The Rangers used a power play in the opening minutes to get the first five shots, but the Blue Jackets scored on their first shot at 3:53 of the first period.
William Karlsson fired the puck into the Rangers zone and it rimmed around to Jones at the right point. Jones unleashed a quick shot that found its way through a mass of humanity and into the top-right corner of the net to make it 1-0.
Saad scored his 17th goal at 1:06 of the second period to put the Blue Jackets ahead 2-0. The Rangers fumbled the puck away in their own zone and discarded it to the neutral zone, where the Blue Jackets came the other way on a quick counter-attack that ended with Saad beating Lundqvist to the short side.
Wennberg ended Lundqvist's night 2:36 later with a rebound goal that increased the lead to 3-0. Lundqvist had a shot from defenseman Ryan Murray fall out of his catching glove and right to Wennberg, who tapped home the loose puck for his ninth goal.
Jones scored his second of the game with 7:08 remaining in the second period to make it 4-0. He beat Raanta high to the blocker side after a setup from Scott Hartnell on a 3-on-2 chance.
Foligno made it 5-0 with 3:56 remaining as the Rangers defense allowed him to receive a pass alone in front of the net from Wennberg. Foligno waited until Raanta was down and stashed the puck into a yawning net for his 18th of the season.
NOTES: Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella was back behind the bench after missing the team's previous contest and the NHL All-Star Game to be at home with an ailing dog. ... The Blue Jackets scratches were D David Savard (undisclosed), D Markus Nutivaara (undisclosed) and D Dean Kukan. ... Rangers D Marc Staal (concussion) and RW Jesper Fast (upper body) returned from extended absences. Staal missed nine games while Fast sat out the last four. ... Rangers G Antti Raanta served as the backup netminder after sitting out with a lower-body injury sustained on Jan. 14.