The resolve the Rangers showed Saturday afternoon is what the team has been working toward this season, but they only got one point to show for it.
A stingy and gutsy 60-minute effort allowed the Blueshirts to push the NHL-leading Avalanche to overtime and secure at least a point before Nathan MacKinnon scored his second goal of the game to hand the home team a 3-2 loss at Madison Square Garden.
“I thought it was a really good hockey game,” head coach Mike Sullivan said. “I thought our team played hard. I thought we were competitive all night. Obviously, we’re playing against one of the better teams in the league. I thought it was a really good game.”
Forcing overtime against an Avalanche team that only just snapped a 17-game point streak is notable in itself.
How the Rangers did it, however, is reflective of the team’s current push to turn their middling season in the right direction.
With 40.9 seconds left in regulation and an extra skater on, Artemi Panarin sent a missile shot from the top of the zone to ultimately secure at least one point.
Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin reacts on the ice in the second period at Madison Square Garden. JASON SZENES FOR NY POST
It counted as the Rangers’ second game-tying six-on-five goal in the last three games.
“Number of good looks right there,” said captain J.T. Miller, who was particularly active and engaged in this one. “It’s been working, but it’s not really too fancy. Typically, it’s just kind of shoot the puck and hopefully it goes off something and goes in. That was a hell of a shot by Bread.”
Play was in the Avs’ control for a majority of the second period, in which Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin made 12 saves on the way to 38 on the day.
It led to Parker Kelly tipping in a Sam Malinski shot for the 1-0 lead at the 7:06 mark of the middle frame.
Rangers left wing Alexis Lafrenière moves the puck down ice as Colorado Avalanche Devon Toews tries to steal in the first period at Madison Square Garden. JASON SZENES FOR NY POST
Shesterkin had otherwise stood tall in the face of a flurry of Colorado shots.
Despite a somewhat lopsided second period, the Rangers stayed within striking distance.
Conor Sheary then scored his first goal as a Ranger to even the score at 1-1 just under 4:30 into the final frame.
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Splitting two Avalanche players thanks to a feed from Vincent Trocheck, Sheary skated in with conviction before snapping it past Colorado netminder Mackenzie Blackwood.
“I think Connor’s done a lot of really good things for us this year,” Sullivan said. “The only thing that’s been missing is just the finish. So I’m hoping this goal he gets tonight will give him a boost of confidence. He has shown an ability to score in this league in a number of different places. If he can chip in with a goal here and there for us, it certainly helps us with all the other things that he brings to the table.”