In two games since returning from injury, Vincent Trocheck is making an impact and the New York Rangers are scoring at a high rate.
The Rangers will look to keep the goals rolling and earn a third straight victory Saturday night when they visit the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Trocheck is playing his third game since missing the previous 14 with an upper-body injury and contributed to four of New York’s 13 goals in wins over the Nashville Predators and Tampa Bay Lightning.
In Monday’s 6-3 victory over Nashville that ended the Rangers’ seven-game winless streak at home, Trocheck scored Vladislav Gavrikov’s game-clinching goal late in the first period and Alexis Lafreniere’s opening goal of the second period.
In Wednesday’s 7-3 win at Tampa Bay, the Rangers held a 4-3 lead throughout the first period before Trocheck scored the next two goals.
Artemi Panarin had four assists, giving him nine of his 16 points in the last four games.
Contributions from Trocheck and Panarin helped the Rangers improve to 8-1-1 on the road. Since a 5-1 loss in Calgary three weeks ago, the Rangers have scored 20 goals in five straight road wins, although coach Mike Sullivan and Trocheck didn’t seem to think they were at their best Wednesday.
“The irony of it is I feel like in the games where we didn’t score, the effort and execution on both sides of the puck was really high,” Sullivan said. “…(Wednesday), I don’t think we were at our best. We were opportunistic. We had some really good looks and we scored on them.”
“It’s always good to see the puck go in the net,” Trocheck said. “But you look at this one for a day, go over the things we did wrong, try to correct them and focus on Columbus.”
Columbus is 6-3-1 in its last 10 games, eight of which have been decided by one goal, including the last four.
The Blue Jackets held on for a 5-4 home win over the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday. Mathieu Olivier scored twice in a three-point night, Charlie Coyle scored and set up Oliver’s goals and Kirill Marchenko had an assist to extend his point streak to 10 games (three goals, nine assists).
Olivier, Coyle and Cole Sillinger combined for seven points against Edmonton. Adam Fantilli, who had a hat trick last season in New York, also scored for a third straight game after having two goals in his first 14 games.
Columbus scored five goals in regulation for the fourth time this season and made it three in a row after Edmonton tied the game with two goals in 1:40 of the second period.
“I think our mindset was just that we’re never safe, so we have to keep going,” Olivier said. “We’ve got to keep the pressure on. Obviously, they’re the best of the best players out there, so they’re going to put a little pressure on you, so I’m happy to find a way to do that tonight.”
The Blue Jackets held on after blowing a two-goal lead to Edmonton in the final seven minutes of the third period Monday and losing in overtime. Columbus has allowed 25 third period goals this season.
“We know these points are going to make the difference at the end of the year,” Fantilli said. “They did it for us last year, so any time we can get a point, a win, it’s huge for us.”
–Field level media
