Rangers top Wild in OT to snap losing skid, set up pivotal Blue Jackets showdown

SAINT PAUL, Minn.— After bleeding losses over the last week or so, the Rangers finally patched it up.Braden Schneider’s overtime winner secured a 3-2 win over the Wild on Thursday night at Xcel Energy Center and snapped a four-game losing skid for the Blueshirts, who benefited from the Blue Jackets’ loss and moved into a tie with their division foe at 70 points in the Eastern Conference wild-card race.The Blue Jackets still have a game in hand, but the Rangers have set themselves up for a perfect revenge game in Columbus on Saturday after giving up seven to the Blue Jackets in a crushing loss last weekend.A win Saturday would push the Rangers ahead of Columbus and into playoff position.It wasn’t an eventful game for either team, but it was a relatively efficient one for the Rangers.The Wild have been on a downward trajectory since the NHL returned from the 4 Nations break, going 4-5 in their first nine games back before Thursday night’s matchup with the Rangers.Despite their struggles, which have been exacerbated by the loss of star forward Kirill Kaprizov, they still have a seven-point cushion in the top wild-card spot.

After missing the playoffs last season, the Wild are looking for their first postseason series win since 2015.The newly forged line of Artemi Panarin, Vincent Trocheck and Will Cuylle had an extremely strong debut, out-attempting their opponents 9-2 throughout regulation, according to Natural Stat Trick.Trocheck opened the scoring in the second period with his first goal since Feb.7.Collecting his own rebound and burying it, Trocheck notched his 18th goal of the season to put the Rangers up 1-0 at the 6:45 mark of the middle frame.Minnesota managed to tie it, however, early in the third period on a power-play goal.After Matt Rempe was called for interference, Marcus Johansson carved through the Rangers penalty kill and knotted the game at one-all on a slick wrister from the slot.Jonny Brodzinski then showed off his own shot to regain the...