NEW YORK — For the second time in as many years, Alexandar Georgiev was fantastic at Madison Square Garden against his former team.
Maybe more importantly for the Colorado Avalanche, for the third time in as many starts Georgiev looked more like the goaltender who got off to a scorching-hot start this season. Georgiev was perfect for more than 50 minutes, and ultimately stopped 27 of 29 shots. But it wasn’t enough to save the Avs from a 2-1 overtime loss Monday night to the New York Rangers.
“It was tough to create scoring chances at times, and then at other times the game opened up and the goalies were spectacular,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said. “Pretty evenly-played hockey game … would have liked to grabbed the two points out of that, but I don’t think we did enough after getting the lead to extend that lead or make it tough on them.”
Georgiev stopped 42 of 44 shots in this building last season against the Rangers during a 3-2 shootout win. He also stopped 49 of 52 in the final two games before the club’s extended break. Then he won $100,000 as the top goalie during the skills competition at the All-Star game, stopping Connor McDavid nine of 11 times in the 1-on-1 challenge.
His success at All-Star weekend aside, Georgiev’s improved play could be a significant development for the Avalanche. The Avs have looked like one of the best teams in the league on a lot of nights this season independent of the play by the goaltender, but when Georgiev is rolling it strengthens the argument for Colorado being the Stanley Cup favorite.
“Trying to see the big picture and these are big points for us,” Georgiev said. “(MSG) is an awesome building, great atmosphere. Now I get to play here once a year. I try to enjoy it. I have some good memories here, and I’m trying to make some new ones.”
Artemi Panarin found a little space with Cale Makar tracking him along the top of the offensive zone, and his shot beat Georgiev through a maze of bodies in front of him with 8:43 remaining in regulation. Then Alexis Lafreniere scored in overtime to complete the comeback.
The Avalanche is now 13-3-2 in its past 18 games, and there wasn’t a lot to nitpick about the performance.
“I thought we did some good things at times and others it just looked like we were a little sluggish,” Bednar said. “We missed some checks there, especially off the rush.”
The defeat did spoil another sensational goal from Nathan MacKinnon.
While he may have been worried about the extended break while he was in Toronto for the 2024 NHL All-Star Game, it didn’t take long for MacKinnon to look like the same destroyer of worlds that he has been for the past 30-plus games. MacKinnon made a great move to shake free from Rangers defenseman K’Andre Miller along the boards on his first shift back, then scored a highlight-reel goal later in the opening period.
It looked like an innocuous breakout from the Avs, but the league has learned that when No. 29 collects the puck in his own end with a full head of steam, it can get dangerous in a hurry. Makar gave MacKinnon the puck one stride before the defensive blue line and he took care of it from there.
MacKinnon danced past Miller’s pokecheck attempt in the neutral zone, blew past Barclay Goodrow and used Braden Schneider as a screen for a shot that went through Jonathan Quick. It was MacKinnon’s 32nd goal of the season.
He now has at least one point in 33 of the past 34 games. His 19-game point streak to start this run is the longest of the NHL season. His current streak is the longest current one in the league.
The goal also brought him level with Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov for the NHL scoring lead. It’s the sixth time in his past nine games that MacKinnon has either equaled Kucherov or passed him in the race for the Art Ross Trophy.
This game was also the Colorado debut for new addition Zach Parise. Signed to a one-year contract Jan. 26, Parise practiced Sunday with the Avs and went right into the lineup Monday in Manhattan.
He played 11:24, skating mostly on a line with Ryan Johansen and Artturi Lehkonen. Parise had four shot attempts, including three on goal.
“I thought he had a good night,” Bednar said. “Involved right away, had a couple shots, couple opportunities. He’s a hard-working guy and did his job on the checking side of it. For playing his first game in a long time, I thought it was a pretty good one for him.”
Footnotes: The Avs recalled defenseman Sam Malinski before the game. Bednar noted that it was a possibility that new backup goalie Justus Annunen could start the second half of a back-to-back Tuesday night against the New Jersey Devils.
