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After historic winning streak, Columbus loses second in a row

New York Rangers v Columbus Blue Jackets

COLUMBUS, OH - JANUARY 7: Sam Gagner #89 of the Columbus Blue Jackets skates off of the ice as Henrik Lundqvist #30 of the New York Rangers is congratulated by his teammates at the end of the game on January 7, 2017 at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio. New York defeated Columbus 5-4. (Photo by Kirk Irwin/Getty Images)

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Rarely does a two-game losing streak make for a headline -- unless you’re the Columbus Blue Jackets, of course.

After their franchise-record 16-game winning streak -- the second-longest in NHL history -- came to a crashing halt with Friday’s 5-0 loss in Washington, the Blue Jackets dropped their second in a row on Saturday with a 5-4 loss to the Rangers at Nationwide.

Michael Grabner provided the heroics for New York, scoring the game-winner -- his second goal of the night -- on a breakaway with 17 seconds remaining. That ended what was a stirring comeback by the Blueshirts -- they rallied from deficits of 2-0, 3-1 and 4-1 to win for the fifth time in their last six games.

Other heroics were provided by blueliner Adam Clendening, who like Grabner scored twice, his first two goals of the year. Oscar Lindberg also found the back of the net for the Rangers, while Henrik Lundqvist made 33 saves.

Columbus will no doubt be disappointed in the result. Aside from blowing the aforementioned leads, the club also surrendered five goals for the second game in a row, this after playing tremendous defensive hockey throughout the win streak. No opponent scored more than three goals during the 16 games, and that only happened three times.

Backup Curtis McElhinney was on the hook for all five markers tonight. Columbus got goals from Markus Nutivaara, Cam Atkinson, Scott Hartnell and Lukas Sedlak.