The Avalanche have fallen back into a losing rut. After getting shutout on Monday by the New York Islanders, the Avs quickly stormed out of the gate against the New York Rangers on Tuesday.
Colorado scored the first two goals of the evening but the Rangers quickly fought back and took control, defeating the Avs 5-3 and sending the Avalanche home with a 1-2 record on their three-game road trip.
Colorado’s goals came two minutes apart, by centers J.T. Compher and Nathan MacKinnon. Rangers rookie goalie Igor Shesterkin, who was making his first career NHL start, was strong the rest of the way, surrendering just one more goal.
New York tied the game before the end of the first before jumping out to a 3-2 lead. But After Compher’s second of the game made it 3-3, the Rangers quickly responded, getting the eventual game-winning goal from forward Ryan Strome before adding an empty-netter in the final minute.
Takeaways
Colorado’s special teams continue to suffer. Despite a recent stretch of productivity with the man-advantage, the Avs have fallen back for the third consecutive night. Colorado was 0-for-3 on the power play, finishing the road trip scoreless in eight opportunities. The Avs also surrendered a power-play goal to New York in the first period.
Grubauer did not have a strong performance. Coming off of two consecutive victories, Avs starter Philipp Grubauer was looking to keep his personal winning streak alive. Unfortunately, Grubauer surrendered four goals on 28 shots, all of which came before the third period.
Donskoi leaves the game with an injury. Colorado’s Joonas Donskoi left the game after taking a questionable hit from Rangers defenseman Ryan Lindgren. His linemate Nazem Kadri was quick to step in and stick up for his teammate. Kadri defeated Lindgren in a spirited affair but was punished with an instigator minor and a 10-minute misconduct. The result of the hit that was not penalized was Colorado losing Donskoi for the rest of the game and Kadri for a large portion of it.
Colorado returns home for a five-game homestand that starts at 7 p.m. MST on Friday against the Pittsburgh Penguins.