New York Rangers return to action with an overtime win against the Colorado Avalanche
It's a win to come back to action at Madison Square Garden. A difficult start was overcome against a solid Colorado Avalanche team and the New York Rangers would get two points after an overtime victory against the 2022 Stanley Cup Champions. With Trouba's suspension now over, there's a lot of ways to build on this effort. A big win at home when the Rangers needed it to ensure their lead holds at the top of the division.
Colorado would grab the lead late in the first period. Nathan Mackinnon starts to stick handle in a phone booth as he enters the offensive zone off the rush. It's always difficult to stop him when he's flying like that, but he lets it go mid-stick handle, it might take a deflection off of Braden Schneider, but it beats Jonathan Quick in the Rangers net anyway, and the Blueshirts have to come from behind again.
New York would tie the game with less than nine minutes to go in the third period. An offensive zone faceoff would get back to the point. K'Andre Miller would receive the puck from Braden Schneider and get it in deep to Artemi Panarin. He would run the puck back to the point before turning and firing at the net, and the Rangers League MVP candidate answers the goal from Colorado's league MVP back in the first as it flutters by Georgiev. We have a brand new ball game here at the Garden.
It would be the Rangers pushing down the stretch to try and grab the win in regulation, but to no avail. Jonathan Quick came up big to keep the Blueshirts on a level playing field at the end of this one. Now, to 3-on-3 and the Rangers were going to need their best players to get over the line against Cale Makar, Mikko Rantanen, and Nathan Mackinnon. It's a terrifying prospect, but there is no choice now.
In overtime, Jonathan Quick would lead the breakout as his pass was almost picked off but found its way through to Alexis Lafreniere in the middle of the ice. Lafreniere would get it to Mika Zibanejad who entered the zone and gave it back on a drop pass. Zibanejad goes across the net to create chaos, dragging a defender away, and a drive-by screen from Erik Gustafsson allows Lafreniere to fire the puck, and it beats Georgiev to allow the Rangers to come back with two points.