NEW YORK -- A lack of discipline and an opportunistic power play in the third period made all the difference at Madison Square Garden on Monday night.

Three offensive-zone penalties by the Columbus Blue Jackets led to three man-advantage goals for the New York Rangers, who rallied from a two-goal deficit for a 5-3 victory, their fourth straight after a horrendous start to the season.

Artemi Panarin (high sticking), Zac Dalpe (elbowing) and David Savard (tripping) all committed careless penalties in the attacking zone, which led to goals from Kevin Shattenkirk, Chris Kreider and Pavel Buchnevich.

Buchnevich put the Rangers ahead for good with 8:13 remaining.

Mika Zibanejad assisted on all three power-play goals for the Rangers (7-7-2), who are at the NHL's version of .500 for the first time this season after a rough October.

"The guys are determined to come back in this game, but there is no question to why we won this game -- the power play stepped up for us big time," said Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist, who allowed three goals on 25 shots. "They had the lead a couple times, but we battled back. We needed this win."

Buchnevich's sixth goal of the season was perhaps the prettiest of the three power-play goals. Zibanejad saucered a seam pass through the penalty-killing box and right into Buchnevich, who whistled the shot past Sergei Bobrovsky before the goaltender could move across the crease.

"I can't stress it enough that we have talked about getting those big goals from the power play," Zibanejad said. "I think we were able to do that again today."

Goals from Artemi Panarin and Josh Anderson less than four minutes apart early in the second period staked the Blue Jackets (9-5-1) to a 2-0 lead. When Bobrovsky stretched to deny Mats Zuccarello on the doorstep a few minutes later, it appeared as though the Blue Jackets would have their way over the final 30 minutes.

However, Michael Grabner, who also scored into an empty net with 48.8 seconds remaining in regulation, pulled the Rangers to within 2-1 with 7:19 remaining in the second period.

After Shattenkirk's fifth goal early in the third period tied the game at 2, Oliver Bjorkstrand restored the Blue Jackets' one-goal lead at 8:01. But Columbus' penalty-killing unit couldn't overcome the minor penalties.

"We don't deserve to win," said Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella, who was clearly upset with his team's penalties in the third period. "You don't give them an opportunity to make a call at that point in time. We couldn't kill one off. When you take stupid penalties, you don't kill them off. We were a dumb hockey team tonight."

Blue Jackets forward Brandon Dubinsky said, "Offensive-zone penalties, those are tough. They seem to be the tough ones to kill off. We just have to be more disciplined."

The Rangers weren't at their best, falling behind and only rallying on the strength of the Blue Jackets' inability to stay out of the penalty box in the third period. But the resiliency New York has shown during this streak -- the Rangers trailed in three of the four wins -- is a sign the team may be finding its way.

"Our guys continue to do what they've been doing since day one -- they keep playing, and there's no doubt that the difference in the third period was our power play," Rangers coach Alain Vigneault said.

"We went down 2-0, and it was kind of a flat game at that point," Shattenkirk said. "A lot of credit goes to Michael Grabner, because his goal really sparked us. We come into the third period and we are down by one goal, that's huge for our mindset. We went out there and worked to get it back."

NOTES: Blue Jackets LW Matt Calvert (upper body) was placed on injured reserve and is expected to miss at least three weeks. ... Rangers LW Rick Nash was honored before the game for playing in his 1,000th career regular-season game last week. The ex-Blue Jacket received a silver stick and framed painting among the gifts bestowed upon him for reaching the milestone. ... Rangers C Boo Nieves (flu) missed his second game in a row. ... Rangers D Brendan Smith was a healthy scratch.