Lehkonen’s late goal gives Avs 5-4 victory over the Rangers
NEW YORK (AP) — Artturi Lehkonen scored the tiebreaking goal with 14.7 seconds left and Mackenzie Blackwood made 33 saves and the Colorado Avalanche defeated the New York Rangers 5-4 on Sunday.
Defenseman Cale Makar scored twice and assisted on the winning goal while Jack Drury and Juuso Parssinen also scored for the Avalanche, who won for the first time since acquiring Martin Necas and Drury in a trade Friday that sent top Colorado scorer Mikko Rantanen to the Carolina Hurricanes.
Necas and Avalanche captain Nathan MacKinnon each had two assists.
The Rangers trailed 4-2 late in the second before defenseman Will Borgen scored at 18:05 followed by Artemi Panarin’s 21st goal of the season to tie it at 15:02 of the third.
But after the Rangers failed to score on a late third-period power play, Lehkonen beat Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin to finish a slick passing play with Makar for his 20th goal.
Sam Carrick and Vincent Trocheck also scored for the Rangers, who lost for the first time in regulation since Jan. 4.
Drury opened the scoring with his fourth of the season and first with Colorado. Makar made it 2-0 just 43 seconds later.
Carrick answered with his fifth of the season at 7:10. Trocheck followed with his 15th of the season at 8:36.
Makar scored his second of the game and 18th this season on the power play at 14:36 of the first. Makar leads all NHL defensemen with 56 points.
Parssinen made it 4-2 at 16:01 of the second.
Shesterkin made 16 saves for the Rangers.
Takeaways
Rangers: Had their four-game home winning streak snapped. New York is 8-2-3 in January.
Avalanche: Colorado is 13-5-1 in its past 19 games against Eastern Conference opponents.
Key moment
Blackwood made a dazzling glove save on Mika Zibanejad’s one-timer with a minute left in the third.
Key stats
Colorado defensemen have a league-leading 127 points (29 goals, 98 assists) this season.
Up next
Avalanche: visit New York Islanders on Tuesday.
Rangers: host Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday.
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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
By ALLAN KREDA
Associated Press
