DENVER — The 18-7-3 Rangers don’t want to get complacent, and the Avalanche have made sure of it.
Squaring off for the second time in less than a week, the Blueshirts have now felt the full effects of Colorado’s explosive starts and even stronger finishes, the arsenal of talent and the purpose with which they play as the Avs secured their second straight victory over them with a 4-2 win Tuesday night at Ball Arena.
The loss marked the Rangers’ first consecutive defeats in regulation this season, while Colorado extended its win streak to five games — which included the 7-3 victory Wednesday at Madison Square Garden.
“I think it’s a great opportunity for growth,” said Ryan Strome, who cut the Rangers’ deficit to 2-1 at 10:36 of the second period. “When things are going well, sometimes you get a little bit complacent and sometimes it’s a little bit of a reality check. Although it’s a loss, I think that the effort was there.
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“Teams that are good go through adversity no matter where it is in the season, and maybe we’re facing a little bit of it now before Christmas.”
The Rangers had been drawing momentum from their physical play the last few games, and it appeared they got a boost after a heavyweight bout between Ryan Reaves and the Avalanche’s Kurtis MacDermid in the middle frame. Shortly after, Strome redirected a long feed from Adam Fox up and over Colorado goalie Darcy Kuemper to make it a one-goal game at 10:36.
“The bench was certainly alive for that,” Strome said of Reaves’ fight. “I think all year we’ve had great contributions from everybody and the key to our team is that guys know what they bring and in a game like that, he stepped up and brought some energy.”
Second-line winger Valeri Nichushkin put the Avs back up by two at the end of the second to keep the Rangers at a safe distance. With just over two minutes left in regulation and an extra skater on, however, Julien Gauthier cleaned up the garbage on a Dryden Hunt shot to keep the Rangers in the mix at 3-2.
Nichushkin then buried his second of the night on a breakaway with seconds left to seal the win.
Much like the teams’ first meeting, the Avalanche wasted no time in setting the tone and controlling the pace of play. But the Rangers didn’t do themselves any favors, either, taking seven penalties throughout the game. The Avs only capitalized on one of their six power-play opportunities, as the Rangers penalty kill continues to be effective.
“They play quick and they play fast, they might be the fastest team in the league,” head coach Gerard Gallant said. “We took a couple penalties we didn’t want to, but we did a good job on the [penalty kill] for the most part and fell a little bit short.”
The last time they faced the Avalanche in Colorado, on March 11, 2020, the Rangers forced overtime with 14 seconds left in regulation before falling short in the extra period. The very next day, the NHL suspended the season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Just under two years later, the Rangers returned with the coronavirus still very much hanging over the NHL.
Prior to puck drop, the Avalanche announced that defenseman Devon Toews had entered COVID-19 protocol with symptoms and would be out of the lineup until after Christmas. Toews was one of 23 NHL players to land on the COVID-19 protocol list in the previous 36 hours or so.
Additionally, the second referee working the game missed a majority of the first period as he awaited his test result, according to the ESPN+ broadcast.
“In the back of the mind, it gives you a little confidence that you know you can do it, we did it two years ago,” Adam Fox said. “But just came up a little short, it’s going to happen. We got a quick bounce back tomorrow [in Arizona].”
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