New York Rangers: A disappointing 3-2 OT loss, but a valuable point in the standings

Mika Zibanejad of the New York Rangers (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
Mika Zibanejad of the New York Rangers (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
1 of 5
new york rangers
Mika Zibanejadof the New York Rangers . (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

The New York Rangers don’t have anything to be ashamed of.  Although they lost 3-2 in overtime to the Avalanche, they played an excellent road game and came away with a point.

Going into this game, the odds were stacked against the New York Rangers.  It was the second game of road back-to-back games.  They were playing one of the best teams in the Western Conference.  They had to deal with little rest and the high Rockies altitude.  Their third line center was out of action.

The Rangers played an excellent road game and had numerous scoring chances, but were stymied by a brilliant Pavel Francouz in goal for Colorado.   It looked like a total loss until they scored with 13 seconds left to force overtime.  Cale Makar won the game for the Avs, but the Rangers got an important point in the standings so the evening wasn’t a total loss.

After the game David Quinn made a brief statement that the team was remaining in Colorado instead of flying to Arizona.  They will wait until the NHL decides what action to take regarding the Coronavirus.

With the NBA suspending play and numerous sporting events being cancelled, the NHL is under huge pressure to take some action regarding COVID-19.   The Penguins and Blue Jackets were already scheduled to play on Thursday in an arena with no fans because of a ban in Ohio on large gatherings.

If this was the last game the Rangers will play for a while, it was a memorable one.  Mika ZIbanejad scored again and hit two crossbars.  Ryan Strome missed on three golden opportunities and Kaapo Kakko missed scoring for lack of elevating the puck.  Alexandar Georgiev stopped a third period penalty shot.  The Rangers failed again on a five on three and gave up two power play goals.  It had a little of everything.

Schedule