Rangers fall in the third to the Avalanche

Solid first two periods, but fell in the final period of the game

Denver, CO- The New York Rangers continued with their Rocky Mountain road trip as they went from Sin City to the Mile High City, where they faced the Colorado Avalanche. They played a solid first two periods of the game, but when the third period started, it went upside down as the Rangers fell to the Avalanche by a final score of six to three.

Rangers get the lead on the power play

As the Rangers won the faceoff, the puck went to the near boards as Vincent Trocheck chased it and passed it back to the near point to Adam Fox. A quick pass to the far side faceoff circle to Mika Zibanejad, with a quick pass to the net, and to J.T. Miller as he redirected it in the net for a power play goal at 2:26 of the first period.

The Avalanche tied it late in the first

The Avalanche dumped the puck inside the Rangers’ zone. The puck was controlled by the Rangers until Artemi Panarin at the near boards made a poor pass, allowing the Avalanche to reclaim the puck. Samuel Girard got the puck and passed it to the near point to Martin Necas. He sent the puck on the net, took a deflection off the skate of a defender, and Nathan MacKinnon came in to clean it up at 19:33 of the first period.

Rangers retook the lead

The Rangers retook the lead as Braden Schneider took the puck in his own end and used the far boards to bank it out, but led Sam Carrick into a two-on-one. As soon as Adam Edstrom was trailing the play, Carrick passed it to Edstrom, and his long arms found a way to tuck it inside the near corner on a chip shot at 3:58 of the second period.

Tied game again by the Avalanche

After stopping the Rangers from a scoring chance, the Avalanche went on a rush up the ice. MacKinnon entered the zone, made a quick pass to Necas, who found Cale Makar at the near side. Macar quickly skated from behind the net and wrapped the puck around Shesterkin to tuck it inside the far post at 17:15 of the second period.

The Avalanche finally took the lead

After going 0 for 4 on the power play, the Avalanche finally converted one. As Scott Wedgewood stopped the Shorthanded chance, he started the rush with a pass to Sam Malinski, and he headed for the Rangers’ net. Then, a quick pass to Brock Nelson in the slot and his wrist shot beat Shesterkin at 2:36 of the third period.

J.T. Miller again on the power play

The Rangers got their second power play of the game and found a way to tie the game up. They won the draw, controlled the puck, and as Zibanejad got it at the far boards, he returned it to Fox at the top of the zone, then he ripped a hard shot to the net, as Miller deflected the puck past Wedgewood for his second of the game at 10:18 of the third period.

The Avalanche gets the lead back quickly

It didn’t take long for the Avalanche to get the lead back, a total of 30 seconds, when Necas picked up the loose puck and gave it to Makar at the far point. He ripped the shot that nails the near post and out, but MacKinnon skates in for the loose rebound and glides it in past Shesterkin at 10:48 of the third period.

Two empty net goals, and that’s the game

Mike Sullivan pulled Shesterkin to get an extra attacker. Still, Zibanejad didn’t give that extra attacker a chance to hit the ice as he made a bad pass that got intercepted by Jack Drury. He gave the puck to Makar, and he scored into the empty net at 18:35, then a second empty net goal for the Avalanche by Ross Colton at 19:47.

A strong two and a half periods until the bottom fell for the Rangers. They were successful on their two Power Play opportunities, but once again, a lack of concentration and poor giveaways doomed them from earning a big win against the best team in the NHL this season.

J.T. MILLER: Recorded two power-play goals against Colorado. He has scored two or more power play goals in four games throughout his NHL career, and did so for the first time since Nov. 7, 2021.

MIKA ZIBANEJAD: Notched an assist on each of J.T. Miller’s power play goals, giving him four power play points in his last four games. He has earned a point on a game-opening goal for the 111th time as a Ranger, surpassing Chris Kreider (110) for the sixth-most instances in franchise history.

ADAM FOX: Tallied two power play points (2A) and his seventh multi-point game of the season. He has seven points (7A) through his last six games, three of which were multi-point games. His seven multi-point games this season rank first on the Rangers and second in the NHL.

SAM CARRICK: Notched an assist on Adam Edstrom’s first goal of the season and improved his point streak to three games against the Avalanche (2G-2A).

ADAM EDSTROM: Scored his first goal of the season.

New York Rangers News:

• Rangers announce 2026 NHL Winter Classic Road Jersey
• Rangers edged by the Golden Knights
• Rangers Edge the Blue Jackets in the Shootout

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