First Period:
- Nathan MacKinnon (32) Assists: Cale Makar (47), Josh Manson (12)
Second Period:
Third Period:
- Artemi Panarin (31) Assists: K’Andre Miller (12), Braden Schneider (10)
Overtime:
- Alexis Lafreniere (13) Assists: Mika Zibanejad (32), Jonathan Quick (1)
Three Stars:
- 3: Alex Georgiev
- 2: Alexis Lafreniere
- 1: Jonathan Quick
Stats:
Adam Rotter:
- This was definitely a game where the Rangers got better as the game went along, they adjusted to how Colorado was playing and knocked off the rust of the bye week and All-Star break.
- The one player who didn’t need to get better as the game went on or kick off rust was Jonathan Quick. He was terrific from the jump, kept the game close, kept it tied and made a few saves late in the third period to get them a point. He made another player or two in OT and picked up an assist on Alexis Lafreniere’s game-winning goal. It was expected that Quick would get this start, after Igor Shesterkin’s weekend at the All-Star Game, and he was outstanding in stopping a very good Colorado team.
- For about half the game, maybe a bit more, it just didn’t seem like the Rangers were going to be able to hang with the Avs. They looked too fast, the Rangers looked slow, they weren’t generating a lot of chances or spending a lot of time in the Colorado zone and then things started to tilt in the latter part of the second period. They came out and had a real strong third period, Artemi Panarin tied it with a huge goal and they went from this being the kind of game where they write off because it’s the first game back, to a game where they are glad to just get a point to a game where they come away with both. They showed a lot of good things in battling back in the third period and now they need to take the good and build on it.
- It was fitting for Alexis Lafreniere to rifle home the winning goal since he got hosed on a tripping call, where he didn’t trip the player, which negated a PP. That was also a phenomenal move he made on the winner, which was slightly reminiscent of Wayne Gretzky’s famous Hat Trick goal against the Panthers in 1997.
- It’s a nice win and a nice comeback in their first game after the break. They get Tampa Bay on Wednesday.