Rangers take away ‘lots of positives’ despite another avoidable overtime loss to Avalanche

The New York Rangers surrendered another one-goal lead late in the third period, and eventually lost 3-2 in overtime to the Colorado Avalanche at Ball Arena on Tuesday night. Even so, they’re looking on the positive side of things.

It was the second time this exact scenario happened in the past four games, the first coming against the Dallas Stars on Jan. 7 when the Rangers gave up an early 3-0 lead and late 4-3 lead, eventually losing in overtime.

Though concerning, the Rangers do have a 4-1-2 record to start 2025, and seem to be turning their season around for the better after ending 2024 with a dismal 4-15-0 stretch.

“It’s a disappointing loss, but at the same time I think we have a lot of positive things to look at,” defenseman Braden Schneider said postgame. “Our forecheck, we were turning pucks over, taking things to the net. I think our defense, we were closing plays and breaking out clean. I think there’s lots of positives to take from this. I think it’s just move on, keep bringing what we’re doing, keep trying to win.”

Schneider makes a fair point here. The Rangers controlled most of the game against a very high-powered Avalanche team, they just were not able to close it out. They had numerous Grade A scoring chances thwarted by Colorado goalie Mackenzie Blackwood, who was outstanding Tuesday. And defensively, the Rangers combined grit and solid play, blocking 22 shots and bailing out Igor Shesterkin three separate times at or near the goal line on prime scoring chances for the Avalanche.

It was a nice follow up to a solid 2-1 win to begin a three-game roads trip Saturday in Vegas against the Golden Knights.

Rangers take positives away from OT loss, move on with road trip

While it’s a tough pill to swallow that the Rangers had a one-goal lead with 1:13 left in regulation — not to mention a power play and clear Mika Zibanejad breakaway in overtime — and didn’t come away with two points, they are not letting it ruin the momentum gained on this road trip.

“It’s disappointing to lose, but I thought for 60 minutes we were working hard, I thought we were creating lots of chances, and I thought we were playing really good defense,” Schneider said. “Things happen, and they got a couple. It’s good to get a point on the road here, and we’ll move on to the next one.”

The next game for New York comes against the Utah Hockey Club on Thursday night. Utah is one place behind the Rangers in the League standings, and also looking to climb into a wild-card spot., albeit in the Western Conference.

So, the Rangers won’t have much time to dwell on their recent loss. They are five points out of a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, with six teams ahead of them. And though Utah is no powerhouse, they did defeat the Rangers 6-5 in a wild overtime contest in the second game of the season.

Among the positives New York carries with it into Utah is the spark provided by Sam Carrick and his solid two-way play on the fourth line. Carrick scored a short-handed goal to tie the game at one and also set up Adam Edstrom for the go-ahead goal in the second period Tuesday. It’s Carrick’s third goal in six games, and Edstrom’s second goal in the last two games.

Getting contribution throughout the lineup is certainly something to build on moving forward.

“You’ve got to look at things in a positive way,” Carrick explained. “I think we’re really turning things around here. It would’ve been nice to get both points there, but we’ll learn from it, move on to next game.”