It seemed as if the Rangers had this one in the bag.
The Blueshirts went up 2-1 with their first lead of the night midway through the second period and held the lead for almost all of the third period until Colorado’s Artturi Lehkonen tied the game with the extra attacker with just over a minute to go in regulation.
Despite having a man advantage in overtime, it wasn’t enough for the Rangers as the Avalanche prevailed with a 3-2 win in OT. Shortly after the Blueshirts’ power play expired, Avalanche defenseman Devon Towes netted the game winning goal with 37 seconds left on Tuesday night from Ball Arena.
The loss snapped the Rangers two-game winning streak coming into the game with the organization aiming to win three in a row for the first time in two months.
Instead, the Blueshirts will settle for only point but have now earned at least a point in five consecutive games (3-0-2 in that span) and end the night sitting with 43 points, currently five back of the Blue Jackets (48 points) for the second and final wild card spot in the Eastern Conference.
This was the fifth straight meeting between the Rangers and Avalanche that was decided past regulation, with the Rangers winning each of the prior three head-to-head matchups dating back to 2022.
The Blueshirts won’t have to wait long to get their revenge, with the second and final meeting between these two organizations only 11 days from now on Jan. 26 at Madison Square Garden.
The fourth line comes up big
One of the bright spots from Tuesday’s action had to be the Rangers’ fourth line. After Colorado opened the scoring five minutes in, the Blueshirts tied the game on a short-handed, breakaway goal from center Sam Carrick.
The shorthanded goal was the Rangers’ sixth of the season, good for third most in the NHL.
It was Carrick’s first multi-point performance this season and already his third goal in the New Year, as the 32-year-old had previously gone his last 33 games without a goal heading into 2025.
The depth scoring wasn’t done there, with Adam Edstrom scoring on an odd-man rush to give the Rangers the go-ahead point halfway through the game.
Edstrom’s tally was his third of the season and his first goal since Nov. 27 against the Hurricanes.
Road woes continue for NYR
Despite having more wins (11) on the road than at home (9), it’s been a tough stretch for the Blueshirts away from MSG.
With Tuesday’s loss, the Rangers are now an underwhelming 2-6-1 in their last nine games on the road after starting the season with a solid 9-5 mark around a month ago.
New York concludes this mini three-game road trip on Thursday night against Utah Hockey Club before playing eight of their final 11 games on home ice before the Four Nations Face-Off begins less than a month from now in mid-February.
Chris Kreider, Filip Chytil return to lineup
The big news leading up to Tuesday’s game was the Rangers were getting reinforcements back with assistant captain Chris Kreider and Filip Chytil back in the lineup.
Kreider was activated off of injured reserve after missing the previous three contests with an upper-body injury.
Chytil returned to action for the first time since leaving the game with his own upper-body injury against the Stars on Jan. 7.
Both Kreider and Chytil started the game on the third line together. Neither made a huge impact in the result of Tuesday’s outcome but each saw at least 12:58 time on ice (TOI), with Chytil (12:58 TOI) winning 4-of-8 faceoffs he attempted and Kreider (16:00 TOI) spending over three minutes (3:03) on the man advantage during the Rangers’ three power plays of the night.
