No Quit in Colorado

The Colorado Avalanche's three game Central Division road trip was a rough one. A close loss in Chicago, a blowout win in Minnesota, but shut out in Winnipeg again. With very little room for error in that tight Central Division, every point and win is important. Thankfully, we have a five game homestand coming right up. First on the Ball Arena docket: the New York Rangers.

I want to talk a bit about the Rangers. They have been an interesting bunch this season, and not for positive reasons. This is a team who boasts many things: a very deep top six, one of the best defensemen in the league, the best (and highest paid) goalie in the NHL, and two Final Four appearances in the last three seasons. However, this season has been a disaster for the Rangers. They are on a horrible skid that has plunged them to the near bottom of the Metropolitan Division--coming off a season where they won the Presidents' Trophy and fell two wins short of reaching the Final. And that's who we're playing to start our homestand.

Mackenzie Blackwood was in net against the man himself, Igor Shesterkin--the goalie we almost faced in the Final in 2022. We did get to ol' Igor early, and it was Parker Kelly at almost five minutes. Ross Colton and Cale Makar with the helpers. Avs received the game's first power play, but a turnover led to Sam Carrick breaking away and tying it up. The fourth shorthanded goal given up by the Avs this season, which has been part of the Avs' power play woes as of late. The rest of the PP was killed off, and the Rangers got one of their own. That was killed off, and after 20 minutes, it was 1-1.

Second period was dominated by the Rangers. For one, they took the lead during the middle of the period, and it was Adam Edstrom with the go-ahead goal. Carrick had the only assist, so that was two points for him. He would later commit a cross-checking penalty that resulted in another Avs PP, but that was knocked off. Same thing happened to a Rangers power play, but the Rangers ended the second period up 2-1. At that point, and as I watched the third period, I was thinking, "This is the best that the Rangers have played in a while." I was also thinking, "The refs aren't calling anything on the Rangers." Finally, they called something, and I went, "OK, this is our chance to tie this thing up right now." Nothing. Even worse, no shots. Oh boy.

The Rangers had a power play right after, that had shots--five of them. None of them went in, thank goodness. Blackwood was pulled for the extra attacker. Avs scrambled big time, and with 1:13 left in regulation, Artturi Lehkonen ties it up! Yeah, I know. Lehkonen scoring big goals is new to me, too. Mikko Rantanen and Nathan MacKinnon with the helpers, and after the remaining 73 seconds ran out, we had overtime. OT has been a familiar thing in games between these two teams. This was the fifth straight meeting to reach extra time, and I vividly remember a sixth that went to OT: March 11, 2020--the last day before a worldwide pandemic ended the regular season early.

40 seconds into OT, Mikko Rantanen was called for interference. I don't know how, but he somehow was. Rangers were on the PP in OT--4-on-3, and they were shooting big time. Blackwood stopped them all, and we killed the penalty. We almost won it after the penalty ended, and later on, Mika Zibanejad broke away, but he was stopped cold by Blackwood! Avs controlled the puck leading to the final minute, and after Logan O'Connor made a pass to MacKinnon, another pass went to Toews, and he called game!

How fitting that an ex-Islander plagues the Rangers on this night! This was a big win for the Avs, especially since, again, this was the best hockey that the Rangers had played in about a month. The shots on goal were 10-5 NYR in the first, 12-8 NYR in the second, Avs took over in the third with a 10-4 shots advantage, and in OT, it was three each, but the Avs' third shot was the charm. Blackwood had 28 saves, MacKinnon had two helpers (the second on the OT winner), and Toews netted his second OT winner of the season. We needed this win, because the Dallas Stars won in Toronto.

The Avs and Rangers will face off one more time at MSG in just under two weeks, but our next game in our homestand is a meeting with the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday. It is always interesting when MacKinnon and Connor McDavid get together, especially since 2022's West Final.

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