Late surge carries Rangers past Avs
The official game recap Colorado Avalanche vs New York RangersRookie Kevin Hayes scored a goal and had two assists to help the New York Rangers defeat the Colorado Avalanche 6-3 at Pepsi Center on Thursday.
Goalie Cam Talbot made 25 saves for the Rangers (32-16-5), who have won the first two games of a four-game road trip. They moved into third place in the Metropolitan Division, one point (69-68) ahead of the Washington Capitals.
Rick Nash and Ryan McDonagh each had a goal and an assist for New York. Talbot has gone 3-1-1 while Henrik Lundqvist recovers from a neck injury.
The Avalanche (22-22-11) have lost four games in a row, all in regulation.
Jarome Iginla knocked in the rebound of Maxime Talbot's shot at 6:43 of the third period to cut Colorado's deficit to 3-2. The goal was Iginla's team-leading 17th and the 577th of his NHL career, tying Mark Recchi for 17th on the all-time list.
After failing to convert their fourth power play of the game, extending their slump to 31 in a row without a goal, Jan Hejda scored his first goal of the season at 10:44 to tie the game 3-3.
But the Rangers responded at 12:02 to take a 4-3 lead. Hayes passed to Carl Hagelin just outside the crease for a chip shot past goalie Semyon Varlamov.
Nash scored his NHL-best 34th goal at 15:42 when his wraparound attempt hit the stick of Avalanche defenseman Nick Holden and caromed into the net. McDonagh scored an empty-net goal with 1:01 to play.
Hayes and Mats Zuccarello scored second-period goals for the Rangers, giving them a 3-1 lead after 40 minutes.
Hayes, who set up Dan Boyle's first-period goal, wasn't touched as he skated from his own end into the Avalanche zone. He cut inside defenseman Tyson Barrie, moved through the slot and swept the puck past Varlamov at 1:47. Hayes has two goals and four assists in a four-game scoring streak.
The Avalanche closed to 2-1 at 12:46 on a goal by Gabriel Landeskog. Colorado applied plenty of pressure in the Rangers' end and it paid off when Nathan MacKinnon took a shot that hit Landeskog in the chest as he was skating to the net. The puck bounced into the net over Talbot's left pad.
The Avalanche had a chance to tie the game less than a minute later during a two-man advantage that lasted 1:53 with Rangers J.T. Miller (hooking) and Dan Girardi (tripping) in the penalty box. They were held to one shot.
Zuccarello, who has four goals and five assists in a seven-game points streak, then gave the Rangers a 3-1 lead at 16:02. Nash was above the right circle when he passed to Zuccarello in the left circle for a shot past Varlamov.
The Rangers grabbed a 1-0 lead at 16:30 of the first period on Boyle's goal. Taking advantage of a poor line change by the Avalanche, McDonagh passed to Hayes, who slipped the puck to Boyle with Hejda the lone defender back. Boyle skated in on a breakaway and shot the puck past Varlamov's right leg.
The Rangers outshot the Avalanche 13-5. MacKinnon had three shots for Colorado and Matt Duchene two.
The Avalanche dressed seven defensemen, scratching fourth-line center Marc-Andre Cliche.
-- by Rick Sadowski for NHL.com --
Eurolanche.com, Worldwide, eurolanche@eurolanche.com
13/02/2015 - 06:00
