Tanguay knockouts Rangers
The official game recap New York Rangers vs Colorado Avalanche.Alex Tanguay scored the decisive goal in the third round of a shootout to give the Colorado Avalanche a 4-3 victory against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Thursday.
Avalanche forward Nathan MacKinnon scored on the first attempt in the shootout before Rangers center Derek Stepan evened it up on a goal in the second round. Avalanche goalie Semyon Varlamov stopped Mats Zuccarello and Lee Stempniak in the tiebreaker.
The Rangers received goals from Kevin Hayes, Stepan and Dan Girardi. Matt Duchene, Tanguay and MacKinnon scored for the Avalanche.
Despite the combined six goals, both goalies were sharp. Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist made 26 saves and Varlamov stopped 30 shots.
MacKinnon scored a power-play goal 7:54 into the third to tie the game, 3-3. MacKinnon took a feed from Zach Redmond in the left circle and released a slap shot that deflected off the stick of Girardi and went between the pads of Lundqvist.
MacKinnon's fifth goal was the first on the power play for the Avalanche in the past 20 opportunities.
Varlamov had to come up big in several key moments of the game to either keep the Avalanche close or keep the game tied.
He denied Dominic Moore on a breakaway attempt with 1:12 left in the second and made a brilliant stop on a quick shot by Chris Kreider 3:33 into the third to keep Colorado within 3-2. He made another great stop 11:20 into the third with his blocker on a rising snap shot in the slot by Rick Nash with the game 3-3. He would later add a shot off the goalie mask at 17:28 before making stops on Martin St. Louis and Mats Zuccarello in the final three seconds of regulation.
The Rangers took their first lead late in the second after sustained pressure by linemates Kreider, Stepan and Zuccarello. The trio maintained possession of the puck for 1:13 in the Avalanche end before Zuccarello found Girardi for a tip-in at the left post at 17:02. It was Girardi’s first goal of the season.
Stepan scored his first of the season 15:19 into the second to tie the game, 2-2. After taking a pass from Nash in the neutral zone, Stepan broke in 2-on-1 before taking a shot from the right circle that beat Varlamov over his short-side shoulder. The assist by Nash gives him a point in 12 of 16 games this season.
Lundqvist came up big on several occasions throughout the second by turning away nine shots to keep the Rangers within striking distance.
The Avalanche opened the second in good shape, outshooting the Rangers 6-0, but New York would pull into a 1-1 tie after Hayes scored his second of the season on a delayed penalty at 6:42. The Rangers maintained possession of the puck for 40 seconds after the penalty was originally called before Hayes swept in a rebound off Varlamov's right pad at the left post.
Colorado regained the lead, 2-1, when Tanguay redirected a great pass past Lundqvist from the slot off a feed from Erik Johnson at 11:09. The Avalanche, as has been the case all season, couldn't sustain the effort that enabled them to grab the lead. For the season, Colorado has been outscored 23-13 in the second.
The Avalanche, coming off an embarrassing effort in a 6-0 loss to the New York Islanders on Tuesday, were a more determined team in the first, outshooting the Rangers 12-6. The effort paid off at 15:09 when Duchene scored his fifth goal of the season off a rebound. Avalanche defenseman Tyson Barrie took the initial shot from the right point and Duchene side-stepped Moore before knocking home the rebound.
Rangers defenseman Dan Boyle, who was playing in his first game since breaking his hand early in the third period of the Rangers season opener on Oct. 9, earned 22:14 of ice time on 31 shifts. He finished with three shots on goal.
-- by Mike G. Morreale for NHL.com --
Eurolanche.com, Worldwide, eurolanche@eurolanche.com
14/11/2014 - 04:30
