Nathan MacKinnon’s home point streak might be over as well.
As the Colorado Avalanche homestand continues they finally host a top playoff team in the New York Rangers. This game unfolded very similar to the match in New York as a competitive low scoring affair which went into overtime. And eventually the Rangers won this game as well in a 3-2 shootout.
The Game
It was a cautious approach to start this contest. Both teams only fired six shots on goal despite each earning a power play. The most entertaining aspect of the period was the energy that Jean-Luc Foudy brought to the ice in his five shifts during the period. Needless to say the period ended scoreless.
The second period started similarly but the Avalanche received another power play in the middle of the period they generated some life on it. This in turn gave the team some momentum through the end of the frame. It still look until 33 seconds left in the period for the dam to break and Casey Mittelstadt got the Avalanche on the board before the period was over.
It was the Rangers who broke through, however, in the third period with Kappo Kakko scoring at 2:59. The game wasn’t tied for long as Chris Kreider converted on the power play at 9:35. Jared Bednar challenged for a missed stoppage due to a hand pass but was unsuccessful and the goal stood. At 12:47 the Avalanche tied the game up and held on to get the match to overtime. Who that goal scorer was is still in question. Devon Toews is currently credited with an unassisted goal because the puck touched a Rangers player.
While Colorado got some of the better looks and five shots on goal in overtime, they did not convert, thus, this game went to a shootout. After a couple of pretty lame attempts by the Avalanche, both Artemi Panarin and Vincent Trocheck got the puck past their former teammate Alexandar Georgiev to secure the 3-2 victory.
Takeaways
The loss really doesn’t matter and what was most disappointing is Nathan MacKinnon’s home point streak ending at 35 games. He should have been credited with an assist on Toews’ game tying goal. The fact that it was considered an own-goal simply by being touched by a Rangers player is very curious. There’s also a chance Mikko Rantanen actually touched it last. There isn’t a great replay clip available somehow in the year of 2024 but on the broadcast it looked like a lot was questionable in that call. Who knows? It would be very unfortunate for MacKinnon’s streak to end on something that ambigious.
It was nice to see Foudy get the recall in Val Nichushkin and Joel Kiviranta’s absences instead of any of the AHL veteran forwards. In 4:33 of ice time he didn’t get a chance to make too much of an impact on the game but he did help generate four scoring chances for and zero against in that time. Hopefully this test drive leads to a much more serious audition in the NHL for Foudy next season.
Upcoming
The final game on the homestand against the visiting Nashville Predators at 4 p.m. MT on Saturday, March 30th.