All good things must come to an end, and so it was with the New York Rangers’ 10-game point streak when the Colorado Avalanche beat them 5-4 at Madison Square Garden on Sunday afternoon.
The Rangers were 7-0-3 in their past 10 games and hadn’t lost in regulation since a 7-4 road loss to the Washington Capitals on Jan. 4. But they never led against the Avalanche, twice overcoming two-goal deficits before Artturi Lehkonen scored on a 3-on-1 rush with 14.7 seconds remaining in regulation for the win.
“That’s a tough loss,” Rangers coach Peter Laviolette said. “It’s frustrating … it just didn’t go our way today.”
New York overcame an early two-goal deficit on goals by Sam Carrick and Vincent Trocheck in a span of 1:26. But defenseman Cale Makar scored his second goal of the game at 14:36 of the first period, 23 seconds into Colorado’s first power play, and the Rangers spent the rest of the afternoon playing catch-up.
Colorado’s Juuso Parssinen and Rangers defenseman Will Borgen each scored late in the second period, and Artemi Panarin tied it at 15:02 of the third.
Makar, whose holding the stick penalty with 2:26 remaining gave the Rangers a power play, set up the game-winner when he came out of the box, stole the puck from Panarin and led 3-on-1 break. He found Lehkonen, whose one-timer beat Igor Shesterkin for the win.
“It was kind of a blind play,” Laviolette said. “Never saw it, never looked at it. Think you’re setting up one of the best goal-scorers that we have for a chance to push the puck down. We’re still trying to win the game. Still only have four guys in the zone, so it’s kind of got that power play feel to it. Just didn’t catch the guy coming out of the box.”
Shesterkin finished with 16 saves and saw his six-game point streak end. Mackenzie Blackwood finished with 33 saves for the win. The Rangers outshot Colorado 37-21, including 27-9 after the first period, but it wasn’t enough.
The Avs got offense from the two players they acquired from Carolina on Friday in the trade that sent star forward Mikko Rantanen to the Hurricanes. Martin Necas had two assists in the first period and Jack Drury, nephew of Rangers GM Chris Drury, scored the game’s first goal.
The loss leaves the Rangers (24-21-4) three points behind the Tampa Bay Lightning (26-19-3), who hold the second wild-card berth in the Eastern Conference; the Bolts are even in points with the Columbus Blue Jackets (24-19-7) but have two games in hand. They are four points behind the Boston Bruins (25-20-6), who own the first wild card.
“I think we’ve been playing pretty good,” Laviolette said, “but right now it’s about collecting the points, too. When you’ve got one point sitting there, it’s tough.”
Colorado Avalanche 5 – New York Rangers 4
After neither team did much in the first five minutes, the offenses came to life, with four goals scored in a span of less than four minutes.
Drury gave the Avalanche the lead at 5:43. He was about 30 feet from the net when he deflected a shot from the left point by rookie defenseman Keaton Middleton past Shesterkin, who never saw it.
Colorado doubled its lead at 6:26 when Makar scored his first goal of the afternoon. Nathan MacKinnon made a brilliant play as he was falling to get the puck to Necas, who found Makar for a high rocket from the left circle that beat Shesterkin.
But the Rangers wasted little time getting even.
Carrick got New York on the board 34 seconds after Makar’s goal when he got to the left post and converted a terrific cross-crease pass from Matt Rempe, who circled the net before whipping a backhand feed to his wide-open linemate.
That made it 2-1, and the Rangers needed just 1:26 to get even. After Shesterkin denied Miles Wood on a tip-in try, Alexis Lafreniere carried the puck nearly the length of the ice before finding Trocheck, who was alone and flipped the puck past Blackwood to make it 2-2.
Colorado’s power play came into the game in a 1-for-26 slump, and the Rangers’ penalty kill was 10-for-10 in the past four games. But the Avs needed just 23 seconds after Adam Fox went off for holding at 14:13 to retake the lead. MacKinnon found Makar above the left circle, and his shot from the high slot went through a forest of sticks and bodies before sailing past Shesterkin. It was Makar’s 18th goal, the most among NHL defensemen.
Shesterkin kept the deficit at one goal by making a couple of brilliant saves during Colorado’s second power play after Adam Edstrom was called for interference at 8:23 of the second period. He also got some help from his posts; two Colorado shots beat him but pinged off the iron.
Blackwood made his best save of the period with just under six minutes remaining when he got a piece of Rempe’s wrister from the right circle after a turnover.
The Rangers paid for a turnover of their own less than two minutes later. Panarin half-whiffed on a clearing pass, Casey Mittelstadt kept the puck in the Rangers zone and found Juuso Parssinen in the slot for a quick shot that beat Shesterkin for a 4-2 lead.
But Borgen got the Rangers within 4-3 at 18:05 with his third goal of the season and second since being acquired from the Seattle Kraken last month. Borgen went to the net and poked in a loose puck after Reilly Smith’s shot leaked through Blackwood and sat loose in the crease.
The Rangers did nothing with their first power play after Mittelstadt was sent off for cross-checking at 1:40 of the third period, but Blackwood preserved the lead just after the penalty expired by robbing Filip Chytil, who was alone in front after a blown coverage.
It looked like Makar had completed his second NHL hat trick when he beat Shesterkin with a wrister at 5:38, but the goal was waved off because Wood was judged to have interfered with the goaltender.
The Rangers kept the heat on, and it finally paid off when Panarin swatted the rebound of Trocheck’s shot out of the air and past Blackwood at 15:02.
The Rangers had four shots while Makar served his holding the stick penalty, but Blackwood stopped them all, making a spectacular glove save on Panarin’s one-timer from the left circle with 59.7 seconds left.
Makar then came out of the box, took the puck away and set up Lehkonen for the game-winner.
“I knew he was coming out but I didn’t see him,” Panarin said. “He was behind. Then I didn’t even touch the puck. He just jumped in front of me.”
Yes, it’s still January and there’s plenty of season left. But make no mistake — this one hurt.
“Tie game with 14 seconds left,” forward Chris Kreider said. “It’s a hard one to give up.”
The Rangers will try to end January on a positive note when they host Carolina on Tuesday. Then it’s three days off before they start February with a visit to the Boston Bruins on Saturday afternoon and a home game against the Vegas Golden Knights on Sunday.
