The NHL regular season is still six days away, but the Columbus Blue Jackets look like they’re ready to begin right now.

Of course, any franchise that has only won 50 games in the last two seasons is looking at a chance to amend from the struggles of the past. However, Columbus looked like a much improved team on Wednesday night against the New York Rangers with a 4-1 victory.

“I really think we’re a better team,” said Blue Jackets coach Dave King. “I think we’ve got a lot more energy than we’ve had. We need to pick up a few things, but if our guys work hard I think it will make for an exciting team to watch.”

What was most impressive seemed to be the execution on the power play in the first period and then the anchoring of the penalty kill on the Ranger’s chances in the second period.

“Our specialties were pretty good, our power play was effective and the penalty killing got the job done,” King said. “I think we gave up a few chances with our penalty killing, but overall it was pretty good.”

The Jackets took an early 2-0 lead in the first period after Espen Knutsen managed to sneak home a power play rebound on the weakside of Ranger goalie Daniel Blackburn.

The second strike also came with the extra skater as Andrej Nedorost knocked the puck off the post, which then hit the back of Blackburn and went in to the net.

Columbus made it 3-0 when Grant Marshall took advantage of a Ranger turnover with 10 seconds left in the second period on a two-on-one that put the game in Columbus’ control.

Yet, it was the rookie and first pick in the draft who saved the best for last.

Leftwinger Rick Nash brought the crowd of 15,251 to their feet with his third point of the game as he assisted on the first two Columbus tallies. Nash ripped a shot on a 5-on-3 advantage after he broke open in slot for the fourth and final Columbus goal of the night.

“Overall, he’s (Nash) a very exciting player,” King said. “He’s got some things to work on, but last year we were the lowest scoring team in the league and I think I guy like him can help this team.”

The Rangers tacked on the last goal of the night midway through the third period when right wing Rico Fata scored unassisted.

So far this year, the 22 Blue Jacket goals in the preseason have been scored by 16 different players.

“Each game I’m building more confidence and gaining more experience and I think that will help me in the long run,” Nash said.

There are still improvements that need to be made as King was unhappy with the team’s ability to attack the net. The Blue Jackets also gave up too many chances in their own zone as the Rangers outshot them, 35-19.

New York also had seven power play opportunities, but came up empty thanks to the play of Blue Jackets goaltender Marc Denis, who despite letting a goal by him in the third, was almost flawless and made some big saves.

“I thought Marc Denis, had a real good game, real consistent from start to finish and made a couple of real good saves for us,” King said. “His housekeeping around the net was good.”

Denis, the main man in the net this season, can see how winning and playing well in the preseason can lead to good things when the season starts to count.

“The defenseman took care of the traffic in front,” Denis said. “I had to face 35 shots but there weren’t any second chances or odd-man rushes tonight and it led to a solid defensive effort.”

The Blue Jackets victory gave them their fifth win in seven preseason games. They have a weekend slate at Nashville and Buffalo before opening the regular season on Thursday night against Chicago.

“I realize these are just preseason games, and for a guy who’s been in the league 8 or 10 years they may not seem important,” King said. “But they’re important for a team coming along like us and hopefully playing well in them will give us some momentum going into the season.”