New York Rangers snap Nathan Mackinnon's point streak to defeat Colorado Avalanche
By Conor Power
This team is a problem. Going to Denver and beating the Avalanche is hard enough, but to do it while snapping MacKinnon's point streak is incredible. It did help getting Ryan Lindgren back from his injury after only 11 days, and the Blueshirts were able to overcome a squad as daunting as the Avalanche. A great night for the Rangers sees them move just 13 points away from clinching the first seed in the eastern conference.
It started in the second when the Avalanche would break the scoreless goalie duel with less than a minute to go in the period. Casey Mittelstadt would get the puck in the faceoff circle to the left of Igor Shesterkin and have some space to walk in. His shot would beat Igor and tuck inside the far post to give the Avalanche the lead on the night. Brandon Duhaime set him up and the Rangers trail.
In the third, the Rangers would corkscrew one in. Jonny Brodzinski would battle for the puck in front, but it would eventually come back behind the net to Kaapo Kakko. With Alexandar Georgiev in the Avalanche net just far enough off the post to give some daylight to the Finn, he was able to bounce one off the nameplate of the Bulgarian born goaltender and the Rangers tie it up. A smart play from the young Finn.
On the powerplay, the Rangers would take the first lead of the night. Vincent Trocheck sent the puck to Artemi Panarin at the point. Panarin got it Mika Zibanejad who got it back to Trocheck as the Swede and American swapped places. Zibanejad then got the puck back to Panarin at the point for his blast, but Georgiev was equal to it. However, Chris Kreider was in his office to knock the rebound home and its 2-1 Blueshirts.
With 7 minutes to go in the game, Colorado would tie us all up. A point blast from Devon Toews would leave the puck bouncing around in front. Ryan Lindgren would seemingly be the one to put it past Igor Shesterkin in his haste to try and clear the puck from the front of the net, giving the Avalanche life. His first game in a little less than two weeks sees a mistake like that, which is forgivable as long as it isn't done in the playoffs.
We'd go to overtime but that solved nothing. To the shootout where only the league MVP would score. Not Nathan MacKinnon but Artemi Panarin. Rangers walk away from Denver with the two points and now head to Arizona to play the Coyotes. This was a huge win, and this needs to be the death of any narrative about the Rangers not being able to defeat elite teams. It's wrong and needs to stop.