A night for the Rangers to gain ground by building on a win
By Steve Paulus
About the Avalanche
Colorado was expected to be a Stanley Cup contender and they have live up to that prediction, despite a raft of injuries. Right now, the injured list includes MacKinnon, Makar, Grubauer, Andre Burakovsky, Matt Calvert, Nazem Kadri, Mikko Rantanen and Colin Wilson.
Through March 6, the team had lost 201 man-games to injury, ffith most in the NHL. It’s not just the number of man-games lost, it’s who they lost to injury that is devastating. MacKinnon joins Rantanen, Kadri and Gabriel Landeskog as top forwards who have missed time due to injury.
If MacKinnon cannot go tonight it means five of their top six scorers are out of the lineup. He has been having a fabulous season and has been mentioned as a potential Hart Trophy contender. McKinnon is one point behind Artemi Panarin with 35 goals and 93 points.
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The Avalanche had a seven game winning streak at the end of February that carried into March. Since that streak ended they have gone 1-2-1 in their last four games, scoring 11 goals. They are coming off a 3-1 loss to the Los Angeles Kings as they concluded a road trip that saw them win one of three games.
Colorado has one of the most potent offenses in the league, averaging 3.38 goals per game, good for fourth in the NHL, just before the Rangers with 3.35. Their defense is also outstanding, allowing only 2.72 goals per game, sixth best in the league. Their +45 goal differential is third best in the NHL. They take a lot of shots averaging 32.3 shots per game, ninth most.
The Avalanche do it mostly at even strength as their power play ranks 20th overall with an 18.6% success rate. Their penalty kill ranks 14th overall, successful 81.1% of the time.
Colorado gets off to fast starts. They are tops in the NHL with 72 first period goals and also the best with 94 second period goals. They have scored the first goal in 43 of their 69 games and have gone on to lose only six of those games in regulation. When the opposition scores first, the Avs are 11-14-1.
Defenseman Ryan Graves is the one who got away, traded to the Avs by the Rangers in 2018. He leads the NHL with a plus minus rating of +42. Artemi Panarin is second at +35. Former Blueshirt Vlad Namestnikov was a trade deadline acquisition for Colorado and has played well with three goals and five points in eight games. He has been playing on Colorado’s top line with MacKinnon and Landeskog.