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Cale Makar scores twice as Avalanche beat Rangers, 5-4

Corey Masisak, The Denver Post on

Published in Hockey

NEW YORK — Cale Makar was denied a hat trick Sunday afternoon. He won the game for the Colorado Avalanche anyway.

Makar came out of the penalty box, picked off a pass and set up Artturi Lehkonen with 14.7 seconds in the third period for the winning goal in a wild 5-4 victory for the Avs against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden.

Artemi Panarin tied this game with 4:58 remaining in the third period. New York was making a hard push down a goal, and the Rangers fired five straight shots at Mackenzie Blackwood before Panarin got just enough of a rebound after Vincent Trocheck’s attempt to get the puck across the goal line.

After a couple of games that were light on goals and chances, this one exploded with four tallies in a span of two minutes and 53 seconds in the opening period.

Jack Drury scored his first with the club to get the flurry started. He deflected a Keaton Middelton shot at 5:43 of the period. It was Middelton’s first career NHL point as well.

The new-look top line authored a beautiful team goal to make it a 2-0 lead. Jonathan Drouin collected an outlet pass from Samuel Girard near center ice and dropped it off to Nathan MacKinnon. The reigning league MVP started to fall near the offensive blue line but sent a pass to Martin Necas, with Drouin executing a perfect dummy in between them to open more space.

Necas carried it into the zone and dropped the puck for Cale Makar, who fired him his first of the night just 43 seconds after Drury scored. It was Necas’ first point with the Avs.

New York struck back with a rapid-fire double of their own. Sam Carrick and Vincent Trocheck scored 86 seconds apart to even the score.

 

Makar scored again to give Colorado a 3-2 lead at 14:36 of the period with the Avs on the power play. Necas reversed the puck from the right side of the ice to the left, then MacKinnon set up Makar at the top of the zone for his 18th goal of the season.

Colorado controlled large stretches of the second period. The Avs’ second power-play opportunity did not result in a goal, but Necas hit the iron behind Igor Shesterkin twice and the full two minutes looked like Colorado’s lethal first unit at its peak.

He wasn’t in the trade two days prior, but another (relatively) new guy for the Avs made it a 4-2 lead at 16:01 of the second. Casey Mittelstadt was able to keep the puck in the offensive zone after the Rangers attempt to get it out was deflected, then the Avs set up Juuso Parssinen for a one-timer in the slot. It was Parssinen’s second goal since arriving from Nashville in a trade Dec. 28.

The Rangers did find a goal before the second intermission. Mackenzie Blackwood made the save on a shot from Reilly Smith in the slot, but it did trickle into the blue paint behind him and Will Borgen poked it across the goal line with 1:59 remaining in the period.

Makar thought he had a hat trick early in the third period. Parssinen wheeled around the net and sent the puck across to Makar for a one-timer but it was waived off for goalie interference and the Avs did not challenge. Miles Wood was in the blue paint before the shot and did bump Alexis Lafreniere into Shesterkin while the puck was en route to Makar.

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