Recap: Rangers Totally Overwhelmed, Fall to Avalanche 6-3

Tonight, the New York Rangers are in Denver to play the Colorado Avalanche. They're aiming to avoid their third straight loss and bounce back from disappointing performances in Detroit and Las Vegas, respectively. The Avalanche and Rangers have a history of games coming down to the wire, so if we're to learn anything from history, it's that we're bound to witness a nail-biter tonight.

After the team's lackluster effort against the Vegas Golden Knights, Mike Sullivan made some adjustments to the lines and the roster. Juuso Parssinen was once again out of the lineup, and Edstrom would be slotting back in on the fourth line. After the team announced Will Borgen was day-to-day, Scott Morrow was getting reps and preparing to play on the bottom pair.

First Period

The game started, and things looked dire right away. The Avalanche had several high-danger chances but couldn't ultimately convert. Shortly thereafter, Samuel Girard was called for interference, and the Rangers would get the game's first power play early in the first. The Rangers' special teams have struggled lately, but the good news for fans was that this time around, their power play was surgical. The team won a face-off in the Avalanche zone, Trocheck scooped up the puck on the right side boards and passed it back to Adam Fox at the blue line. He quickly moved the puck over to Zibanejad on the left side of the zone, who wound up and sent a shot/pass toward the net that J.T. Miller deflected right past Wedgewood. The team moved the puck so quickly and with such intent that the Avalanche didn't even have a chance to defend. More of this, please.

The Avalanche would get their own chance to go onto the power play just a couple of minutes later. As expected, Colorado's power play was dangerous, cohesive, and effective. The Rangers were able to hold them off the scoreboard for now, but it wasn't for a lack of effort on the Avalanche's behalf. Igor Shesterkin stood tall and made several big saves, especially against Martin Necas, who was able to rip a shot off a one-timer after receiving a pass at the top of the circle. Shesterkin, looking sharp early in the game, anticipated the chance, slid over, and swallowed the puck, not letting up a rebound.

The Rangers' defensive play was on display after the power play expired. Zibanejad, for the second time in the game, got his stick on a crossing pass, this time breaking up a dangerous play in the making by MacKinnon. The Rangers were playing with a physical edge, but overstepped when Carrick was called for interference on Devon Toews after cross-checking him and knocking him down in front of the net away from the puck. The Avalanche would have the man advantage once again. The Rangers were able to kill a second consecutive penalty off, much to the efforts of Carson Soucy, who chased Ross Colton around the zone, knocked the puck away from him, and then had a great chance to score going on a two-on-one right after.

After failing to score on the man advantage, the Avalanche were buzzing in the last few minutes of the period. Shesterkin could only stand on his head for so long. With less than thirty seconds in the period, Panarin failed to get the puck out of the zone. The Avalanche quickly capitalized; they whipped the puck around and set up MacKinnon for his league-leading fifteenth goal of the season.

Second Period

The Rangers would once again strike first in the middle period. Four minutes into the second, Schneider bounced the puck off the boards in the neutral zone to hit Carrick in stride as he skated across the Avalanche blue line. Carrick adeptly reached and made a pass over into the slot in the lane of Adam Edstrom, who was charging the net. Edstrom shot the puck up over Wedgewood to give the Rangers their second lead of the game.

As the period progressed, the Avalanche kept pressuring and threatening to tie the game. The Rangers produced little to no offense outside of the Edstrom goal, only recording four shots on net throughout the entire period. Cale Makar was all over the ice and had a skillful play, broke in on Shesterkin, but hit the post. A little later, the Avalanche would go on the power play after a questionable call on Sheary was made for holding Makar.

The Rangers were able to kill off another Colorado power play, but only due to the heroics of Shesterkin after he made a highlight reel save on Olofsson, who deflected a hard pass from MacKinnon. During the penalty kill, J.T. Miller, while backchecking, took an awkward fall and was in pain as he got off the ice. He didn't head to the locker room, but it didn't look particularly good for the Rangers' captain. Injury or not, a minute and a half later, Miller was back on the ice.

There was a moment of déjà vu as the second period wound down, and the Avalanche continued to dominate the game. Panarin made a terrible pass to a double-teamed Miller, who tried to corral the puck but couldn't, and MacKinnon intercepted it. He skated the puck all the way back into the Rangers' zone and dropped a pass to Necas, who slid the puck across the zone right past a lunging Miller to Makar. Makar skated behind and around the net and tucked the puck past Shesterkin to tie the game. This was the second consecutive goal against because of a bad decision or play from Panarin.

Third Period

In the first minute of the third period, the Rangers were once again killing a penalty. This time, Cuylle was called for tripping Lehkonen in the offensive zone. In the same sequence, Makar was hit with a shot from Soucy and then struggled to the bench. He tried to take a shift on the power play, but got right back off the ice. Makar or no Makar, it didn't matter; the Avalanche were able to take advantage of the power play. After the Rangers were able to break up most of Colorado's chances, Brock Nelson was able to wrist a shot past Shesterkin on an odd-man break back into the Rangers' zone. The Rangers were now trailing for the first time in the game.

After the third Colorado goal, the game started to open up. Lafrenière had one of the Rangers' best scoring chances, getting a partial breakaway but failing to beat Wedgewood. MacKinnon came back the other way and was stopped by Shesterkin, but he drew a penalty when Soucy pulled him down. The next power play for the Avalanche, ironically, saw the Blueshirts produce their most offense in some time. They had multiple chances and pushed to tie the game. Miller was close to scoring on a pass from Trocheck in a two-on-one, but once again, Wedgewood kept the puck out of the net.

Close to halfway through the final period, the Rangers would get their second power play of the game. They set up in the offensive zone, won a faceoff, and cycled the puck around. Zibanejad passed the puck to Fox at the point, and he fired a shot through traffic on net. Miller managed to get his stick on the puck and deflected it past Wedgewood to tie the game at three.

The game remained tied for exactly 30 seconds. Makar, who eventually returned to the game, grabbed the puck from Necas at the Rangers' blue line. He took a shot on net that ricocheted off the post, and MacKinnon was the first to the puck on the side of the net and backhanded it into the wide-open net to reclaim the lead for the Avalanche.

In the final minutes of the game, the Rangers took yet another penalty, a problem they will need to address. After killing it off, they pulled Shesterkin for the extra attacker with just over a minute remaining. Entering Colorado's zone, Zibanejad tried to force a pass through the middle of the ice. It bounced off an Avalanche player, and almost immediately after Shesterkin vacated the net, Makar sent the puck all the way down the ice into the open net for his second goal of the game. The Rangers called a timeout and strategized to find a way back into the game, but came up short as the Avalanche scored another empty-net goal.

The team was outshot and outplayed. The only reason they were hanging in this one was solely because of Igor Shesterkin. Losing their third in a row, the Rangers will travel to Salt Lake City on Saturday and set their sights on the Utah Mammoth, hoping to turn this skid around.