NEW YORK (AP) Artemi Panarin and Sergei Bobrovsky have the surging Columbus Blue Jackets in the thick of the Eastern Conference playoff race.Panarin had three goals and an assist http://www.lionscheapshop.com/cheap-authentic-kerryon-johnson-jersey , Bobrovsky made 29 saves and the Blue Jackets extended their winning streak to nine games with a 5-3 victory over the New York Rangers on Tuesday night.”Obviously, you want to limit the penalties in the third period and the stretch run, but Bob (Bobrovsky) played great and saved us, and Bread (Panarin) was able to seal the deal,” Columbus defenseman Ian Cole said.The Blue Jackets are tied for second place in the Metropolitan Division with the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins at 87 points. Both teams trail Washington by four.It is Columbus’ longest winning streak since its 16-game run last season from Nov. 29, 2016, to Jan. 3, 2017.It was Panarin’s second career hat trick and first with the Blue Jackets. Coincidentally, his other hat trick also came against the Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Feb. 17, 2016, with Chicago.This season, Panarin has 22 points in the past 16 games (10 goals, 12 assists).”We played such a good game until we ended up giving up back-to-back power plays and that kind of changes the landscape of the game Authentic Kerryon Johnson Jersey ,” Columbus coach John Tortorella said.”I guess he scored three, and you know how those guys are – he has that net staring at him with that goalie pulled and he wants to get back out there, and I’m glad it happened for him.”Markus Nutivaara and Alexander Wennberg also scored for the Blue Jackets.Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad scored power-play goals and Kevin Hayes had a short-handed goal for the Rangers.Henrik Lundqvist made 26 saves in his first start since March 10 against Florida. Lundqvist was briefly shaken up when Matt Calvert upended him and knocked his helmet off with five minutes remaining.”I was just more surprised. I thought both of them saw me, but I guess not,” Lundqvist said. ”It hurt pretty much everywhere – my foot, my back, my neck. We’ll see how it feels tomorrow. It happens.”With Columbus leading 3-2 in the third period, Cam Atkinson drove toward the net and Lundqvist made the initial save, but Panarin poked the puck free and in for his 24th goal at 11:19.”I was mad at Cam that he’s shooting for once,” Panarin joked through a translator. ”And then I’m grateful the referee probably didn’t see the moment he was behind the goalie and that helped us.”Kreider scored his 14th with 1:52 remaining to get the Rangers to 4-3.Panarin added an empty-netter for the hat trick and his 25th of the season.Earlier, Panarin made it 2-0 in the second. Cole, acquired at the trade deadline, sent a pass to Panarin Authentic Deshaun Watson Jersey , who wristed it past Lundqvist at 9:28.”He’s special,” Cole said of Panarin. ”He’s certainly a player you look for. Anytime you see him with space, you want to give him the puck. It’s something that tends to work out well for us.”Hayes then had three impressive scoring chances in the second half of the second period.Bobrovsky stopped him on a short-handed breakaway with about nine minutes remaining. A few minutes later, with the Rangers again short-handed, Jesper Fast grabbed a deflected pass and sent Hayes in on another breakaway and this time he beat Bobrovsky to make it 2-1 with his 21st goal of the season at 13:44. Hayes also hit the post in the final minute of the second.Nutivaara made it 3-1 in the third with his fifth of the season at 4:05. Panarin had the primary assist.Zibanejad got the Rangers closer at 3-2 with his 25th goal of the season at 7:16. He has nine points (six goals, three assists) in a five-game point streak.Thomas Vanek, another trade-deadline acquisition, helped the Blue Jackets open the scoring. He sent a backhand pass from behind the net to Wennberg in the slot and he wristed the puck past Lundqvist at 14:05 of the first period for his eighth goal.Lundqvist briefly kept it a one-goal deficit when he stopped Vanek as the Blue Jackets came in on a 2-on-0 break less than four minutes into the second.NOTES: Defenseman Seth Jones has missed the past two games and is day to day with an upper-body injury. … Former Rangers forward Brandon Dubinsky was a healthy scratch for Columbus. … Zibanejad played in his 400th game. … The Rangers are 5-3-2 since the trade deadline.UP NEXTBlue Jackets: Host the Florida Panthers on Thursday night.Rangers: At the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday night.— PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Caught at a crossroads between a full-blown rebuild and a legitimate playoff push, the Philadelphia Flyers fired general manager Ron Hextall on Monday, the latest front-office leader to fail to win the franchise’s first Stanley Cup in 44 years.The Flyers might not be done cleaning house.Coach Dave Hakstol has now lost his biggest backer and his job clearly is in danger. The Flyers have a 10-11-2 record and have lost five of six. They are fresh off a 6-0 loss to Toronto in which an organization once stamped as “Broad Street Bullies” played without a penalty.“I feel a responsibility for what happened today,” Hakstol said. “Nobody feels good about that in our room.”Hextall, a popular Flyers goalie in the 1980s and ’90s, was dismissed after 4 ½ seasons on the job in which he tried to revive a depleted farm system and patiently build a championship contender.Flyers President Paul Holmgren thanked Hextall for his “many significant contributions http://www.houstontexansteamonline.com/deshaun-watson-jersey , but it has become clear that we no longer share the same philosophical approach concerning the direction of the team.”He added that an immediate change was in the team’s best interests and he hopes to have a new GM “as soon as possible.”The Flyers play Tuesday against Ottawa at home where a once-rabid fan base has stayed away from Wells Fargo Center in droves, and the ones that come serenade another listless loss chanting “Fire Hakstol!”Holmgren and Comcast Spectacor Chairman and CEO Dave Scott said they will not comment until a Tuesday news conference.The new GM will make the call on the fate of the coaching staff. Former Chicago Blackhawks Stanley Cup champion coach Joel Quenneville is available after he was fired this season. Former Los Angeles Kings GM Dean Lombardi, who won two Cups, is a former Flyers scout who returned this season to assist the front office.Hakstol ran practice Monday.“I’m not looking over my shoulder,” he said. “I never have. I never do. I focus on the job at hand and going forward. Those are decisions that aren’t up to me.”Hextall played 13 seasons in the NHL and had two stints covering 11 years with the Flyers. He also spent seven seasons as assistant GM with the Los Angeles Kings.His ouster could be tied in to his steadfast support of Hakstol, the coach he hired with no NHL experience out of North Dakota in 2015. The move stunned the NHL and Hextall seemingly staked his career on Hakstol handling the grind of coaching in pressure-packed Philadelphia.The Flyers haven’t won a championship since the Stanley Cups of 1974 and 1975. They have reached the Finals and lost six times over that span.Hextall had wanted to ease off the franchise’s win-now mode that had been a hallmark since the 1970s under late owner Ed Snider. Hextall inherited a salary cap mess from Holmgren, his predecessor, and inherited a talented nucleus of stars that included Claude Giroux, Wayne Simmonds and Jake Voracek.But taking a page from their Wells Fargo Center neighbors, the 76ers, Hextall wanted his own process. That meant patience and building through the draft and restocking a farm system in disarray.Sean Couturier, Shayne Gostisbehere, Travis Konecny Deshaun Watson Jersey Elite , Ivan Provorov and Nolan Patrick, the No. 2 pick of the 2017 draft, are among the youngsters the Flyers counted on Hakstol developing. The Flyers now have roughly $7 million in salary cap space.Philadelphia did make the playoffs twice under Hextall but that seemed more of a quirk than a true step toward contention. The Flyers won 10 straight games in 2016-17 and missed the playoffs; they lost 10 straight last season and made them. The Flyers went 42-26-14 last season.“I think the players feel responsible here,” said Giroux, the last holdover from the 2010 Eastern Conference champions. “I do believe we have a good team in here. We’re just not getting it done.”The poor play of late comes in large part to a goalie carousel that has yet to stop on a true No. 1. The Flyers have Carter Hart pegged as a future star in the minors but tried a stopgap approach this season to give Hart more seasoning. That decision — like the one to remain loyal to the Giroux-Simmons-Voracek core — has flopped and Hextall paid the price.“I don’t think a lot of guys saw it coming,” Giroux said.Holmgren brought back Hextall from Los Angeles in 2013 for a year as an assistant general manager. Hextall’s failure as GM complicates his legacy as one of the franchise’s more popular players. In 1986, he won the Vezina Trophy and helped the Flyers get within one win of the Stanley Cup before losing to Wayne Gretzky and the Edmonton Oilers on the road in Game 7 in 1987. Hextall was the Conn Smythe Trophy winner as MVP of the playoffs that year.Hextall became the first NHL goalie to score a goal by shooting the puck into the opponent’s empty net. He also became the first goalie to score a goal in the playoffs. Hextall was known for his fiery temper as a player. His attacked Montreal’s Chris Chelios during the 1989 playoffs, sparking a brawl.