3 Rangers takeaways from heart-breaker 5-4 loss to Avalanche
The New York Rangers dropped a heart-breaker Sunday afternoon, losing 5-4 to the Colorado Avalanche at Madison Square Garden. Despite overcoming two separate two-goal deficits, they gave up the game winner with just 14 seconds remaining in regulation, snapping their 10-game point streak with their first regulation loss since Jan. 4.
The Rangers played an overall solid game. After a slow start found them in a 2-0 hole, they quickly battled back with two goals of their own. They fell behind again, and after gaining all of the momentum and nearly tying the game, gave up another goal to trail 4-2.
The Rangers showed resiliency once again, bringing the game within one toward the end of the second period, and eventually tying it late in the third. After failing to score on a late power play, the Avalanche took advantage of a costly turnover and robbed New York of any possible points by scoring with just seconds remaining in regulation.
New York got goals from Sam Carrick, Vincent Trocheck, Will Borgen, and Artemi Panarin. Trocheck and Panarin each added assists, while Reilly Smith (2), Matt Rempe, Urho Vaakanainen, Will Cuylle, and Alexis Lafreniere all had assists as well.
It was probably a performance that goaltender Igor Shesterkin would like to take back. Though he’s been red-hot as of late, Shesterkin gave up five goals on just 21 shots, a .762 save percentage. The Rangers outshot the Avalanche 37-21 in the contest.
Related: Rangers sign Will Borgen to five-year, $20.5 million contract
3 takeaways from 5-4 loss to Avalanche
Here are three takeaways from the loss on Sunday:
Rangers’ point streak comes to an end
With the loss, the Rangers’ 10-game point streak (7-0-3) officially comes to an end. While it’s been an incredible rebound for the Rangers, who were once tied for dead last in the Metropolitan Division. They are still in a position where every point matters. Losing in regulation when they were 14 seconds away from one point, and possibly two, really hurts.
“I thought we’ve been playing pretty good, but right now it’s about collecting the points,” Peter Laviolette said postgame. “When you’ve got one point sitting there, it’s tough. It’s tough to take a moral victory in a game like that when you don’t get any points. Just didn’t go our way today.”
Two points would have kept pace with the Columbus Blue Jackets, who won on Saturday and now have 55 points in the second wild card spot. Instead, the Rangers remain four points back, and will now need to put another string of wins together in order to close the gap and get back into a playoff spot. At this stage of the season, every point matters, and while the Rangers have been racking them up as of late, they couldn’t have picked a worse way or time for their streak to come to an end.
Overcoming multiple 2-goal deficits not enough to win
The Rangers showed some serious fight in this back-and-forth contest. They fell behind by two goals twice throughout the game, and were able to battle back both times to even the score. It was very reminiscent of last year’s squad, who was never out of the game and set a record with 28 comeback wins.
“It’s a tough loss,” mentioned Laviolette. “Everybody’s frustrated, dissapointed. The guys kept fighting the entire day to get back into that game. We finally caught it, and caught a power play at the end to try and win it, so that’s a tough loss.”
While they haven’t been able to come back nearly as many times this year, it’s good to see the Rangers show some fight, rather than rolling over after falling behind early. That’s something the Rangers of December certainly would have done. Despite their great attempt at a come back, it was not enough to force overtime.
Another late goal against creates concerning trend
Once again, the Rangers gave up a goal extremely late in the game, and it cost them big time. While there’s been little to complain about in the month of January, their 8-2-3 record could be even better if it weren’t for three instances in which late goals against led to points left on the board.
It happened first against the Dallas Stars on Jan. 7, when the Rangers had a 4-3 lead late in the third period. While they thought they were on their way to two points, a late Dallas goal forced overtime, where the Rangers lost, and forfeited that valuable extra point. The same exact thing happened against the Avalanche on Jan. 14. The Rangers had a 2-1 lead, but gave up a goal with just 1:13 remaining, and again lost in overtime.
Now, a goal against with 14 seconds left has cost the Rangers two points instead of one. Give the Rangers those five total points lost, and they would be in a wild card spot. Instead, they’ll look to keep fighting their way back to the playoffs on Tuesday when they take on the Carolina Hurricanes.
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