'Z' returns to Columbus with a bang (10/24/08)
by Dave Seaman, Columbus Wired, Photos by Dave Weissman

Nikolai Zherdev’s return to Columbus was picture-perfect as he scored a goal and assisted on two others to lead the New York Rangers past the Blue Jackets 3-1 in front of 14,724 in Nationwide Arena.

Zherdev, who was traded with Dan Fritsche to the Rangers for Christian Backman and Fedor Tyutin during the offseason, received a mix of cheers and boos as he scored midway though the third period to effectively put the game away for New York.

“It was a good team win,” Zherdev said. “I was just happy to score.”

The performance was not unusual for Zherdev, who is the Blue Jackets third-leading scorer in franchise history. He has three goals and five assists (eight points) this year for the Rangers.

“Nick has been playing like that all year,” Fritsche said. “If he keeps it up, he’s going to have a great year.”

Rangers coach Tom Renney was a casualty in the game, taking a stick in the face from Rostislav Klesla midway through the second period. He was reported as being okay, but did not return to the bench.

“I wasn’t very good there for a while, but I feel good, ready to go,” Renney said. “I was able to watch from the medical room and they guys did a good job.”

The only bright spot for the Jackets was when rookies Nikita Filatov, Derek Brassard and Jake Voracek ended up on the same line midway through the first period. It led to the Jackets only goal.

Voracek stole the puck at mid-ice from Rangers’ Dmitri Kalinin and skated untouched to the goal. New York goaltender Henrik Lundqvist made the initial save, but Voracek poked the rebound under the glove at 13:42.

It was by chance that Filatov was on the ice for the goal. He only played two minutes, 54 seconds on four shifts. Jason Chimera, Brassard and Voracek continued to be the Jackets’ best line.

“Brassard-Voracek-Chimera, for the second or third game in a row, have given up good energy,” Jackets coach Ken Hitchcock said. Backman was a great player tonight, Tyutin played well and we got a good effort from (Marc) Methot. Lot of good effort from second-tier players.”

Dan Girardi tied the game at 8:33 of the second when he hit a slap shot from the right point. The goal came minutes after Renney got hit.

Brandon Dubinski then redirected a Zherdev shot at 12:11 on the power play to give the Rangers a 2-1 lead. Zherdev took the shot and the puck deflected off Dubinski’s puck and into an empty net.

“We keep going through stretches where we are getting completely dominated and outplayed,” Michael Peca, who returned from a five-game suspension, said. “You can’t have that happen. It gets taxing when guys like Rick Nash are killing penalties and we need to try to avoid that because we need guys like him to score goals.”

Zherdev, the former Jacket first-round pick, put the game away at 13:48 of the third when he beat Jackets goaltender Pascal Leclaire under the glove on a break to put the Rangers up 3-1.

“When I came to the rink earlier this afternoon, (Zherdev) was here and ready,” Renney said. “He was looking at the ice surface by himself in solitude. I thought he was really zooming in on this one.”

Columbus saw three-game goal streaks of Chimera and Rick Nash end. The top line (Nash-R.J. Umberger-Kristian Huselius) was non-existent offensively and each had a minus-two rating.

“I’m not showing up on the score sheet and it’s frustrating,” Umberger said. “You like to help out the team more and I have to figure out a way to do that.”

Columbus travels to Minnesota Saturday at 8 p.m. and return home to host Chicago Monday at 7 p.m.