Blue Jackets vs. Rangers: Kent Johnson's Overtime Winner and Jet Greaves' Shutout Sink New York 1-0

For 63 minutes, Jet Greaves and Dylan Garand stared at each other from 200 feet away like two poker players who refused to show their cards first. Then Zach Werenski found Kent Johnson, and the standoff was over.

Johnson buried a one-timer 3:26 into overtime, Greaves stopped all 31 shots he faced, and the Columbus Blue Jackets beat the New York Rangers 1-0 on Saturday night at Nationwide Arena. It was the fifth career shutout for Greaves and the kind of response Columbus badly needed after a rough week.

A Week of Tough Talk, a Night of Answers

Context matters here. The Blue Jackets came in off a 7-3 home loss to the Florida Panthers on Tuesday in which, per NHL.com, they tied a team record by allowing four power-play goals. Coach Rick Bowness had challenged his group in the media several times since. Saturday felt like the test of whether any of it landed.

It did. Columbus played a tight, patient game, and Bowness reached for a baseball reference to explain it. He pointed to Milwaukee Brewers manager Pat Murphy, whose team had just beaten the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League Championship Series, and the line the Blue Jackets borrowed from him. "They have Hall of Famers. We've got gamers," Bowness said, quoting Murphy. "We wanted to be gamers tonight. We were. Everyone contributed."

Sixty Minutes of Nothing, in the Best Way

The first two periods were mostly about structure. Columbus drew the only two power plays of the first 40 minutes, with Rangers Vladislav Gavrikov and Sean Durzi each going off for holding, and could not convert either one. Shots were close, chances were rare, and the goalies did not have to stand on their heads so much as stay square and sharp.

The Rangers liked what they saw from themselves, too, which says something after the week they had. New York arrived off a 7-1 loss in New Jersey on Thursday and defended far better this time. "We defended better as a group of five when we were on the ice," Rangers coach Mike Sullivan said.

The Turning Point: Three Kills in the Third

The game swung in the third period, when the Blue Jackets went to the box three times and survived all three. Adam Fantilli took a holding penalty 18 seconds in. Jake Christiansen tripped Adam Fox at 4:17. Cole Sillinger hooked Durzi at 9:49. Each time, Columbus killed it off.

Greaves gave a lot of the credit to the skaters in front of him. "Our penalty kill was great," he said. "I thought when there were rebounds around the net, the guys did a good job of clearing it."

For a team that had been torched on special teams four days earlier, a 3-for-3 penalty kill in a scoreless third period was the whole ballgame. New York captain J.T. Miller felt the sting. "You get three cracks in the third, you've got help the team right there. We could have used one," he said.

The Rangers' penalty kill was just as good, going 3 for 3 and improving to 29-for-31 this season, per NHL.com. Will Cuylle took an interference penalty with 33 seconds left in regulation, but the Rangers killed that one too, including the stretch that carried into overtime.

The Winner

Overtime is where open ice turns into chaos, and Columbus found the seam. Johnson hopped over the boards on a change for Fantilli just as the puck reached Charlie Coyle down low on the right. Coyle moved it to Werenski, and Werenski, in the middle of a monstrous 32:18 night, spotted Johnson arriving above the right circle and put the puck right on his tape. One-timer. Game over.

"Perfect weight on the pass, like right in the wheelhouse," Johnson said of Werenski's feed. "Such a good pass by Z that definitely made the play, and luckily I hit a good spot."

The assist was the 22nd overtime point of Werenski's career, which the AP noted moved him past Seth Jones for the most in franchise history. It was also just the fourth time the Blue Jackets have won 1-0 in overtime, and the first since Feb. 4, 2020, against Florida.

Who Stood Out

Jet Greaves: 31 saves on 31 shots in 62:43, his first shutout of the season and his first since Feb. 4 of last season against Chicago. "It's fun to be in games like that," he said of the goalie duel.

Kent Johnson: The winner was his team-leading fourth goal, and according to NHL.com he has scored in three straight games. That is a big jump for a player who scored seven goals in 76 games last season.

Zach Werenski: The primary assist on the winner, two hits, three blocked shots and more than 32 minutes of ice time. He is the engine of this blue line.

Dylan Garand: 28 saves on 29 shots for the Rangers. "I thought it was a great response by us," he said. "I really liked the way we responded. I thought we battled hard, competed hard."

Charlie Coyle: The secondary assist on the winner and 13 faceoff wins in 21:24.

Stats That Matter

• 3 for 3: Columbus' penalty kill, all of it in the third period, after allowing four power-play goals to Florida on Tuesday.
• 0 for 6: Combined power-play output for both teams.
• 31-29: New York's edge in shots, which made Greaves' night the deciding factor.
• 32:18: Werenski's ice time, more than half of the game.
• 22: Werenski's career overtime points, a Blue Jackets record.

What It Means

Columbus improves to 3-3-0 with six points, snaps a two-game losing streak and is 3-2-0 at home. Bowness called it "the best game we put together all year for sure," and the Blue Jackets now head to Minnesota for a Sunday game, with the quick turnaround testing whether this version of the team sticks around.

The Rangers drop to 6-3-1 with 13 points and have lost two straight. They are now 1-3-1 on the road, compared with 5-0-0 at home. Alexis Lafrenière also saw his six-game point streak end, a run in which NHL.com noted he had 11 points. Sullivan pointed to the defensive improvement as the takeaway: "I just thought we did a much better job collectively defending as a group, protecting the inside of the ice." New York hosts Anaheim on Monday.

Closing Take

Greaves described the feeling of a scoreless game perfectly: goalies looking at each other from 200 feet away, wondering "who's going to blink first." Garand barely blinked. He just ran out of time. Columbus asked its players to be gamers, and for one Saturday night, the gamers beat a team that came in with more wins.

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Game details from the Associated Press; postgame quotes and notes as reported by NHL.com.