On Sunday, the Columbus Blue Jackets came into Madison Square Garden to face the New York Rangers having lost two straight games in the state of Florida on their latest road trip.

After winning an emotionally charged Stadium Series contest at Ohio Stadium on March 1 over the Detroit Red Wings, they fell at Tampa Bay, 6-2, Tuesday, then at Florida, 3-0, Thursday.

At the beginning of the day, the Blue Jackets and New York Rangers were tied with 68 points for the final wild card spot in the Eastern Conference, with the Jackets having a game in hand. 

Columbus got on the board first when Justin Danforth chipped one in from the right side of the net after a pinpoint pass from Zach Werenski. It was Danforth’s seventh goal of the season. New York’s Artemi Panarin added his 28th goal of the campaign to tie the game, 1-1, at the end of the first period.

The second period saw a swing of emotions unlike the first part of the contest. The Blue Jackets’ Adam Fantilli scored twice, at 3:07 and 3:33, assisted on both by Dmitri Voronkov and the Jackets seemed to be in control.

When the Rangers’ Will Cuylle was called for holding on Ivan Provorov, it looked like another opportunity for Columbus. However, New York managed to score two short-handed goals 42 seconds apart and the game was tied, 3-3.

The action in the second period was not over. The Blue Jackets responded with two more goals. The first came from Mathieu Olivier, who had been moved up to the second line. Dante Fabbro scored the next goal with only 1:13 left in the period.

Zach Werenski assisted on Olivier’s score, his 48th helper of the season. It was Werenski’s 260th career assist, moving him ahead of Rick Nash for the most ever for a Blue Jacket. The second period ended with the Jackets up 5-3.

Columbus added two goals in the third. Kent Johnson posted his 21st score of the season. Then Fantilli earned his second hat trick of the season with the game’s final goal. It was also his 21st the season.

Daniil Tarasov was in the net for Columbus. Last time he played against the Rangers at MSG, he did not allow a goal through an overtime period. The Jackets ended up falling 1-0 in a shootout. On Sunday, he stopped 32 shots on goal and earned his seventh win this season.

The Blue Jackets round out their trip with a game against the New Jersey Devils Tuesday beginning at 7:00 p.m.