COLUMBUS, Ohio – It’s been a long time in the wilderness for the Rangers this season, but after more than three months of struggle, that has seen a multitude of changes to the roster, the Blueshirts have finally battled their way back into a playoff spot.

Two goals from Vincent Trocheck, a goal and an assist from Artemi Panarin, Alexis Lafreniere’s first goal in six weeks and 19 saves from Igor Shesterkin helped lift the Rangers to a 4-0 win Saturday night over the Columbus Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena in Adam Fox’s return to the lineup after missing eight games with an upper-body injury.

The win moved the Rangers (33-28-6, 72 points) ahead of Columbus and into sole possession of the second wild card in the Eastern Conference with 15 games left in the regular season. It is the first time the Rangers have been in a playoff spot since Dec. 11.

Columbus, which lost its third straight, fell to 31-27-8 (70 points). They have a game in hand on the Rangers.

Fox, the Jericho native, returned to the Rangers’ lineup for the first time since Feb. 25, when he suffered what appeared to be a shoulder injury in the third period of a game against the Islanders. He missed eight games.

With No. 1 goaltender Elvis Merzlikins unavailable because his wife was in labor, backup Daniil Tarasov got the start in net for Columbus. Tarasov had been in goal for the Blue Jackets’ 7-3 win over the Rangers in Madison Square Garden on Sunday, but his mistake early in Saturday’s game led to the opening goal by Lafreniere, who broke a 14-game goal drought with his 15th of the season, 1:43 into the game.

Mika Zibanejad started the play when he knocked the puck off the stick off Columbus defenseman Damon Severson and into the corner. Tarasov came out of his crease to try to play the puck, but it was in the trapezoid area, where goalies aren’t allowed to touch it, and Zibanejad got to it first and slid a pass across the slot to Lafreniere, who backhanded it into the unguarded net for his first goal since Feb. 2.

Panarin made it 2-0 at 11:36 of the second period, 24 seconds after the Rangers killed a penalty to Zac Jones. And Trocheck, set up by a feed from Panarin, made it 3-0 at 14:38 of the third period.