Boone Jenner recorded a natural hat trick, leading the host Columbus Blue Jackets to a 5-3 victory over the New York Rangers on Saturday night.
Jenner got his second career hat trick by scoring three times in a span bridging the first and second periods. His other hat trick was March 12, 2019, against the Boston Bruins.
Jenner scored the tying goal midway through the opening period and then netted the tiebreaker during a power play late in the first before finishing his hat trick 12:30 into the second.
It was the eighth natural hat trick in Columbus history. The last was by Emil Bemstrom on May 3, 2021, against Nashville
David Jiricek contributed his first NHL goal in his fifth career game and Justin Danforth scored on the Blue Jackets’ first shot of the third with about four minutes left.
Johnny Gaudreau and Ivan Provorov added two assists apiece as the Blue Jackets rebounded nicely from a 4-2 loss to Philadelphia in their season opener on Thursday.
Columbus goalie Elvis Merzlikins made 24 saves in two periods before exiting with an illness. Spencer Martin made 15 saves in the third.
Erik Gustafsson scored in the opening minute, Will Cuylle netted his first career goal in the third and Chris Kreider scored on a power play in the final minute. The Rangers also had tallies by Filip Chytil and Mika Zibanejad disallowed due to offsides calls.
New York’s Igor Shesterkin allowed five goals on 21 shots.
The Rangers went ahead when Gustafsson’s pass for Barclay Goodrow caromed off the skate of Columbus’ Sean Kuraly 50 seconds into the game. New York nearly took a 2-0 lead on a goal by Chytil with 14:34 remaining, but officials ruled Alexis Lafreniere was offside.
Jenner tied it with 11:24 left when he forced New York defenseman Braden Schneider into a giveaway in the right corner and swept in the rebound of Gaudreau’s shot into the open net.
New York had another goal disallowed with 9:07 remaining when officials ruled Kreider was offside to negate a tally by Zibanejad. With 7:24 remaining, the Blue Jackets appeared to take a 2-1 lead, but officials ruled Jacob Trouba’s stick stopped Patrik Laine’s shot from entirely crossing the goal line.
The Blue Jackets took a 2-1 lead with 2:15 left when Jenner slipped into the left side of the crease and redirected Gaudreau’s shot. Jenner made it 3-1 with about 7 1/2 minutes left in the second by converting a redirection after forcing two giveaways.
–Field Level Media
