That was an absolute gut punch for the Rangers roster. In a game that the Rangers completely dominated at 5-on-5, a powerplay goal and a bad decision on the penalty kill led the Rangers to defeat in a game that had two points ripe for the taking. While it does suck to see the Rangers blow a game they could have won, there was a lot of good to take away from this as well, but that can wait.
First of all, that penalty in the first period where the Colorado Avalanche defenseman hits his defensive partner in the face with his stick and somehow they decide it is all the fault of Alexis Lafreniere is beyond me. The utter fiasco with the review too led to nothing but confusion. A play they cannot review because they only awarded a minor, they still tried to review. If I told you the NHL rulebook is older than The Library of Ashurbanipal, would you doubt it?
Igor Shesterkin had both a great and an awful game in this one. While he stopped 42 out of 44, he also had a moment in this game no one associated with the Rangers will want to see. His moment early in the third period allowed the Avalanche to take a 2-1 lead. Eventually, the Rangers would tally to tie the game, but it didn’t exactly help the team like he’s been doing for so much of his career in New York.
Alexander Georgiev was always going to win this game. It was sealed as soon as the puck dropped. It was a game that a former Ranger was going to haunt his team, and Georgiev proved to be arguably the better netminder in this game, stopping 44 out of 46. There were 90 shots total in this game, and it just looked like Georgiev was the more likely one to come up with the big stops the Avalanche needed.
There were a few Rangers players suffering from bumps and bruises in this one too. Mika Zibanejad was hobbling at the end of overtime. Vitali Kravtsov was favoring his shoulder at one point, and Shesterkin was slow to get up after a collision on the shootout winner. You have to hope for the best of health for everyone involved, but some of these didn’t look great.
With that shootout loss, the Rangers add a point to the standings but fall further away from the playoff picture. Now with a record of 3-2-2, New York sits four places out of the playoffs with the team only missing out on points percentage. They’re still in the hunt and while it might be too early to examine the standings at this point, I’ll keep saying it. You cannot win the cup in October, but you can certainly lose it.
New York’s next game will be tonight as they go across the city to start a three-game road trip visiting the little brother. That game against the New York Islanders will likely be a good test as to what this Rangers team can truly do. It’s far too early to start complaining or panicking, but getting some more early points on the board is always good. That game starts at 7 PM Eastern.