Rangers’ Issues Laid Bare in Loss to Avalanche as Skid Hits Three Games
DENVER — Thursday’s matchup highlighted exactly where the Rangers’ roster falls short.
Facing the NHL-leading Avalanche, the Rangers managed to stay competitive thanks to timely goals and stellar work from Igor Shesterkin, but Colorado’s overall superiority was clear in a 6–3 defeat, sealed with an empty-netter.
New York actually held the lead twice against a Colorado squad that has yet to drop a regulation game at home this season.
But when the decisive moments arrived, the Avalanche had the elite talent necessary to pull away.
“That’s definitely the best team we’ve played this year, and they might be the best team in the league right now with how explosive they are,” head coach Mike Sullivan said after the loss, which pushed Colorado’s winning streak to seven and improved its league-leading point total to 33. “There were just key moments where we needed to manage the game better.”
Even winning the special-teams battle wasn’t enough for the Rangers. Captain J.T. Miller scored on both of New York’s power plays, and Colorado converted only once on five chances.
Still, spending nearly 12 minutes killing penalties hurt the Rangers badly.
Half a minute after Miller tied the game at 3–3 with his second power-play tally, Nathan MacKinnon buried a backhand off the post for his second of the night, restoring Colorado’s lead in the third period.
The Avalanche simply had more game-changing players.
“I felt like maybe we could’ve gotten one or two more power plays,” Mika Zibanejad said. “We’ve just got to stay out of the box. But the power play came through for us, so that’s something positive to take.”
After going 0-for-2 on the man advantage in Vegas, New York struck early in Denver. Just seconds into a power play, Zibanejad fired a cross-ice pass from Adam Fox to Miller at the back post, and the captain tapped it home for a 1–0 lead at 2:26.
But a turnover by Artemi Panarin near the end of the first period proved costly. MacKinnon buried the chance, passing Peter Stastny for second place on the franchise’s all-time points list.
Adam Edstrom, back in the lineup after being scratched in Vegas, provided a spark early in the second, finishing a Sam Carrick rush feed for his first goal of the season to make it 2–1 Rangers.
The rest of the period, however, was all Colorado.
The Avalanche allowed the Rangers only four shots on goal in the middle frame while firing 14 at Shesterkin. A goal felt inevitable, and it finally arrived at 17:15 when Cale Makar wrapped the puck around the net to tie the game.
“We shot ourselves in the foot on a few of those goals,” Fox said. “We didn’t spend enough time in the O-zone. They had some long shifts against us that really hurt our rhythm, especially in the second period.”
No Comment! Be the first one.