Recap: Rangers Blow Late Lead, Fall 3-2 in OT to Colorado

With some reinforcements in the lineup, the Rangers continued on through their West Coast road trip by paying a visit to the Colorado Avalanche. Both Chris Kreider and Filip Chytil who have both been on IR as of late, returned to the lineup with Jimmy Vesey and Jonny Brodzinski coming out in their place. After winning consecutive games for the first time in nearly two months, the Rangers would love nothing more than to keep it going but would have to settle for just one point as they'd fall just short in overtime.

1st Period: 

Will Borgen saved the Rangers from giving up a goal within the opening seconds of the game as he came up with a massive blocked shot on a point blank chance for the Avalanche. After that, it very well might have been two and a half minutes before the Rangers had confident possession of the puck. Following a defensive zone draw, Adam Edström had a Grade-A chance on a breakaway but was shut down by Mackenzie Blackwood. This helped spark some life for the Rangers as Will Cuylle had a great point blank chance of his own off a nice touch from Zibanejad down low. 

The chances kept coming at both ends of the ice before the game was even five minutes old. Just as the 15 minute mark was approaching, a quick pass to Parker Kelly in the slot allowed for a quick shot to beat Shesterkin, making it a 1-0 game for Colorado. Colorado nearly made it 2-0 as Nathan Mackinnon ripped a one timer in the slot that was met with a fantastic glove save from Igor Shesterkin. 

Things slowed down a bit from there but it was still very much becoming the Nathan Mackinnon show with Cale Makar as an honorable mention. As the period went on, the Rangers were starting to match up better but it was a pretty dominant showing from Colorado initially. 

Nearing the midway mark of the opening period, Chris Kreider got his stick tangled up in the legs of Cale Makar which sent him off for tripping. While Colorado tried to set up with the man advantage, Makar mishandled the puck at the point which sent Sam Carrick on a breakaway. A beautiful forehand-backhand move was enough to fake out Blackwood which gave Carrick his second goal in three games, third in his last six, 1-1 game. 

With close to five minutes to go in the period, it would be the Rangers turn on the power play as Keaton Middleton sent a puck over the glass to earn a delay of game penalty. Chris Kreider now found himself as the odd man out on that top power play unit as the Rangers kept Alexis Lafrenière on that right wing. While they weren’t able to generate much, the second power play unit saw the best chance as Kreider had a nice one touch redirect to Reilly Smith wide open in the slot. 

The Rangers were playing to survive in those first five minutes but once they settled in, they were skating quite well with the Avalanche. To the point where they held Colorado without a shot on goal through the final seven minutes of the period. Shots on goal after twenty were 10-5 in New York’s favor in an overall good start to the game. 

2nd Period:

A solid start to the period for the Rangers, specifically their fourth line that was putting good pressure against some of Colorado’s top players. About three minutes in, Lafrenière had a great chance on a breakaway but was shut down on the point blank shot. I’ll take that over a forced pass any day of the week. From that point on, it was all Rangers as they continued to keep Blackwood busy, generating a good amount of offense through the first half of the middle stanza. 

One second out from the ten minute mark, the fourth line capitalized on yet another effective shift. After getting caught out there for a full minute following an icing call, Sam Carrick was able to chip it ahead to Edström who beat Blackwood with a quick shot on the short side. That’s goals in back to back games for Edström who made it a 2-1 game. 

With seven and a half to go after the Avalanche started to show some life again, Shesterkin channeled his inner Dominik Hasek as Urho Vaakanainen lost a footrace to Ross Colton. Shesterkin lost his helmet in the process which resulted in a play stoppage and some disdain from the Avalanche who thought there should've been a penalty on the play. Sure enough on the following shift, Carrick was called for cross checking putting the Rangers back at a disadvantage. 

The Rangers did a great job of killing off the penalty with some big blocked shots from Ryan Lindgren and K’Andre Miller. As the team’s returned to even strength, it wasn’t long before the Rangers got their second crack at the power play as Ross Colton was called for tripping. The top unit spent the majority of the advantage moving the puck around well but they would come up empty handed for a second time as the score remained the same. 

That about did it for the period as the Rangers took a 2-1 lead into the second intermission. Shots were now 23-13 after forty minutes as the fourth line was one of the standouts up to this point. The team’s defensive efforts, specifically, the amount of blocked shots were also paying off against an offensive powerhouse of a team in Colorado. 

3rd Period:

It was a relatively low-event front half of the third period without the pace of the game being compromised. Each team had three shots on goal throughout that stretch with the Rangers best chance coming on a partial break for Vincent Trocheck that was turned away by Blackwood. One of the most noteworthy takeaways was just how much trust Laviolette continued to put in that fourth line that was still seeing consistent shifts in a one goal game against a strong opponent as time continued to expire.

With just under seven minutes to go in the period, a big chance for Colorado came around as Reilly Smith was called for hooking. Another really strong penalty kill, led by Sam Carrick who was having one of the best nights any Ranger had had this season, really limited Colorado from getting anything set up. Ross Colton had the only shot on goal during the man advantage which was met with a huge glove save by Shesterkin with 11 seconds remaining on the penalty to Smith. 

With just under two and a half minutes to go, the Avalanche pulled Blackwood for the extra attacker in attempts to tie things up. After a full minute of getting swarmed by Colorado’s offense, the Rangers just couldn’t get a hold of the puck to fully clear the zone which resulted in the Avalanche tying the game. A shot from Mikko Rantanen was stopped by Shesterkin but Artturi Lehkonen was right at the doorstep for the rebound to make it a 2-2 game. For the third time in four games, the Rangers were headed to overtime. 

Overtime:

Trocheck, Panarin and Miller would start the overtime with Adam Fox eventually taking Miller's place. Just 45 seconds in, Mikko Rantanen collided with Adam Fox away from the puck which earned him two minutes for interference. A huge opportunity on the power play for the Rangers in overtime. The Rangers were dominant with a surplus of chances on the 4-on-3 but just could not find the back of the net. Once the team's returned to 3-on-3, Zibanejad had a chance to end it on a breakaway but was gloved by Blackwood.

With just 37 seconds to go in overtime, the Rangers run into trouble trying to get the puck out of their own end. A good effort from Logan O'Connor to get the puck up to McKinnon sent it over to Devon Toews for a hard one timer that snuck through the legs of Shesterkin to end it, 3-2 Colorado. A rather unfortunate end to what was otherwise a really impressive showing from the Rangers. Not much else to say about it as this tweet from SNY Rangers sums it up perfectly.

The Rangers will wrap up their road trip in Utah on Thursday Night for another 9pm eastern time puck drop.