Postgame takeaways: Rangers finish off 10-1 February with win over Blue Jackets

NEW YORK - February was much kinder to the Rangers than January.

After a disappointing 5-7-2 start to the new year that raised concerns about their viability as a Stanley Cup contender, they've responded with a month-long heater.

That continued with Wednesday's 4-1 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets at Madison Square Garden, concluding an impressive 10-1 month in which they outscored opponents by a 40-22 margin. This latest victory made it an even 40 wins through 60 games played, tying the 1972-73 team for fastest to that mark in franchise history.

It also moved the Blueshirts back into sole possession of the Eastern Conference's No. 1 seed, one point ahead of the Boston Bruins and Florida Panthers.

"We have bigger goals that we want to accomplish," captain Jacob Trouba said. "Just continue to build the confidence – the confidence in how we play, the confidence as a group. ... There are no real trophies handed out right now."

The one February blemish came against these same Blue Jackets, a 4-2 defeat in Columbus on Sunday, ending their franchise-record-tying win streak at 10. But Wednesday's bounce back made that loss feel like a fluke.

It continued a season-long trend of avenging losses in their second meeting against teams that previously beat them.

"It gives you that playoff feel," head coach Peter Laviolette said. "There’s been eight, nine, 10 teams we played, where, we didn’t play a very good game and came back and did something better. I think there’s something to be said for that. When you get into a playoff series, you have to come back and fight after the ones you don’t like."

A memorable February

The Rangers (40-17-3), who received a two-day reprieve after playing three road games in a span of four days from Thursday through Sunday, were in attack mode from the start.

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They created off the rush and generated long offensive-zone possessions, led by the always-dangerous line of Artemi Panarin, Vincent Trocheck and Alexis Lafrenière. They also got a boost from the energetic fourth line of Adam Edström, Barclay Goodrow and Matt Rempe, who pursued the puck with vigor and are quickly becoming a fan favorite. And after allowing 40 or more shots on goal in each of the previous five games, New York limited the Blue Jackets to 31 shots in total and seven high-danger scoring chances at five-on-five, according to Natural Stat Trick.

"We were a lot better defensively, especially in the first period," Laviolette said. "We had more pop. We had more energy. We just got caught there (Sunday) night. We didn't have a lot of skating and energy to our game. We were much better tonight."

When the Rangers needed to rely on the last line of defense, Igor Shesterkin was on point again.

His midseason slump is fading fast in the rearview mirror. The 28-year-old goalie made 30 saves Wednesday to conclude a 7-0 month in which he posted a gaudy .953 save percentage.

"I hope February will continue in March," Shesterkin said with a smirk.

Igor is officially back − as is his humorous side − and so are the Rangers.

"Coming off of a tough month in January, there's been a lot of really good wins," Laviolette said. "You go way back, even thinking about coming off the (all-star) break and the games that we played coming out. There were some good teams in Tampa and Colorado. We played some good games early on, and just got on the winning side of the month, and then guys just kept fighting for it. That was the plan when we hit February − to have it be a better month and have our actions speak for what we're looking for inside of that month."

Breaking through

Shesterkin wasn't the only goalie who showed up Wednesday.

Elvis Merzlikins did his best to keep the Jackets in the game, particularly during a first period in which he stopped all 17 shots he faced. But the Rangers would finally breakthrough 7:17 into the second.

The game's first goal came off a Trocheck faceoff win, with Panarin pouncing on the loose puck and snapping a quick wrister past Merzlikins. That made him the third player in franchise history to post four 80-point seasons, joining Mark Messier (five) and Rod Gilbert (four).

Panarin finished with a game-high three points, putting him pace for 112 this season. He's easily tracking toward triple digits for the first time in his nine-year career − just don't tell him that.

"People like you make me think about things like that," he said in a playful response to the reporter who asked the question. "Honestly, I'm trying not to think about it. It's too much pressure."

The Blueshirts would double their lead later in the period on a power-play goal from Adam Fox. The play began with a takeaway from Chris Kreider on Columbus defenseman Erik Gudbranson, with Kreider then charging the net and finding Fox in the slot with a no-look pass.

The Jackets cut their deficit to 2-1 with a Cole Sillinger goal early in the third period, the direct result of a misplayed puck from Shesterkin. It was the goalie's only miscue, but it led to the quote of the night.

"Very good in the net," Shesterkin said when asked how he's feeling lately. "And very bad behind the net."

The Rangers shut it down from there, with Kreider and Panarin finishing off the win with a couple of empty-netters. It gave Kreider his 30th goal of the season and Panarin a new career high of 35.

Scouts flood MSG

The MSG press box was crowded with scouts and executives, a sure sign that the NHL trade deadline is near. Among the attendees was Anaheim Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek, who's undoubtedly spent time in recent weeks exploring options with Rangers GM Chris Drury.

They witnessed the Panarin-Trocheck-Lafrenière line once again carry the five-on-five scoring load, with that trio out-shooting the Jackets by an 11-5 margin while earning several high-quality looks.

"The conversation before the game is mostly about having the right mindset and being hungry enough to really chase them out there," Panarin said.

No other line generated more than five shots, including the what's-old-is-new top line of Kreider, Mika Zibanejad and Kaapo Kakko. They weren't especially noticeable in Kakko's first game back in the 1RW spot, but didn't make any costly mistakes, either.

Scouts also saw the imposing rookie pair of Edström and Rempe continue to infuse the bottom six with snarl. They accomplished that by forechecking and getting physical in the high-danger areas, as opposed to dropping the gloves.

After fighting in four of his first five NHL games, Rempe refrained from going another round with Columbus tough guy Mathieu Olivier. By taking no penalty minutes, the 21-year-old forward logged a modest career-high 7:42 time on ice while dishing out a game-high four hits. It could have been more, but Laviolette opted not to use the 6-foot-8 rookie at all while nursing a one-goal lead for much of the third period.

Vincent Z. Mercogliano is the New York Rangers beat reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Read more of his work at lohud.com/sports/rangers/ and follow him on Twitter @vzmercogliano.