Rangers lose to Blue Jackets after having two goals disallowed in first period

COLUMBUS, Ohio — For a little more than five minutes Saturday night, the Rangers looked like a team that might go 82-0 this season.

Then, before the first period was over, two Rangers goals were disallowed, one goal by the Columbus Blue Jackets was disallowed and everything fell apart for the Rangers, who lost, 5-3, at Nationwide Arena in the finale of their season-opening two-game road trip.

Boone Jenner had a hat trick for Columbus (1-1), which rallied from a first-minute deficit.

“I thought it just got away from us,’’ Rangers defenseman Adam Fox said. “That end to that first period was a little weird. We seemed to lose our rhythm a little bit.’’

“Obviously, not a great result, but I thought we generated some really good chances,’’ Jacob Trouba said. “Their goalies [Elvis Merzlikins and Spencer Martin] played well. You’re not going to play every game exactly how you want.

“Obviously, you don’t want to give up that many goals, that many chances. But we had a lot of opportunities and they made a lot of good saves. We just didn’t capitalize on them. Sometimes it goes that way.’’

Filip Chytil’s goal, which would have given the Rangers a 2-0 lead at 5:24 of the first period, was taken off the board for offside after the Blue Jackets challenged it.

Jenner’s first goal tied it at 1-1 at 9:36. Then Mika Zibanejad appeared to give the Rangers a 2-1 lead at 10:53, but Columbus challenged that goal, too, and it also was disallowed for being offside.

Patrik Laine appeared to put the Blue Jackets ahead with 7:19 left in the period when his shot got past Igor Shesterkin (16 saves) and fluttered toward the goal line.

Trouba cleared the puck out after diving to get his stick on it, but referee Jean Hebert emphatically signaled that the puck had crossed the goal line.

The situation room in Toronto, though, reviewed the play and ruled that the puck had not entirely crossed the line before Trouba’s stick swept it away. That goal, too, was taken off the board.

Rangers coach Peter Laviolette said he’d never seen three goals disallowed in one period before, but he had no problem with the fact that they were.

“I thought all the calls were right,’’ Laviolette said. “I mean, it is what it is. I’ve never seen [three disallowed goals in one period], but they made the right calls.’’

Jenner then scored the next two goals, one late in the first period and one in the second, to complete a natural hat trick.

Defenseman David Jiricek scored his first NHL goal to put the Blue Jackets ahead 4-1 before Rangers rookie Will Cuylle scored his first NHL goal at 10:53 of the third period.

Justin Danforth scored for Columbus with 4:06 remaining to make it 5-2 before Chris Kreider’s power-play goal — his third goal of the season — brought the Rangers within 5-3 with 36.0 seconds left.

Laviolette made two changes to the lineup that opened the season Thursday with a 5-1 win over Buffalo, one forced and one unforced. Defenseman Ryan Lindgren was a last-minute scratch with what the team said was an upper-body injury. He was replaced by Zac Jones.

Forward Jimmy Vesey also entered the lineup, replacing Tyler Pitlick.

According to the website statmuse, the Rangers are 149-82-27 when Lindgren is in the lineup and 47-52-17 when he is not.

Erik Gustafsson moved up from the third pair to take Lindgren’s spot next to Fox and Jones took Gustafsson’s usual spot next to Braden Schneider.

Gustafsson gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead on a fluky goal 50 seconds into the game. He was trying to pass the puck to Barclay Goodrow down low, but the puck hit a defender’s skate and deflected in.

The Rangers (1-1) will play their home opener Monday against the Arizona Coyotes.

By Colin Stephenson

colin.stephenson@newsday.comColinSNewsday

Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.