The New York Rangers visit the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday night after Alexis Lafreniere scored two goals in the Rangers’ 6-5 overtime win against the Philadelphia Flyers.
They are among the NHL’s best teams, as the Rangers have a league-high 100 points and the Avalanche have 97 points.
New York Rangers (48-20-4, first in the Metropolitan Division) vs. Colorado Avalanche (46-21-5, second in the Central Division)
Denver; Thursday, 9 p.m. EDT
HOW TO WATCH: ESPN+
BOTTOM LINE: The New York Rangers visit the Colorado Avalanche after Alexis Lafreniere scored two goals in the Rangers’ 6-5 overtime win against the Philadelphia Flyers.
Colorado has a 46-21-5 record overall and a 28-7-0 record in home games. The Avalanche have given up 213 goals while scoring 268 for a +55 scoring differential.
New York has a 48-20-4 record overall and a 22-11-4 record in road games. The Rangers are 27-8-1 in games their opponents serve more penalty minutes.
The teams meet Thursday for the second time this season. The Rangers won 2-1 in overtime in the previous matchup. Lafreniere led the Rangers with two goals.
LAST GAME, RANGERS: Adam Fox scored 36 seconds into overtime and the host New York Rangers became the first NHL team to clinch a playoff spot this season, beating the Philadelphia Flyers 6-5 in Tuesday night following a wild third period. Alexis Lafreniere had two goals and Igor Shesterkin made 36 saves for the Rangers, who lead the league with 100 points after giving coach Peter Laviolette his 800th career win.
LAST GAME, AVALANCHE: Sam Montembeault made 27 saves and the visiting Montreal Canadiens beat the Colorado Avalanche 2-1 on Tuesday night in coach Martin St. Louis’ return to the team. Nick Suzuki and Joel Armia scored for the Canadiens, who snapped Colorado’s nine-game win streak. They won consecutive games for the first time since Jan. 15-17 and swept the two-game season series from Colorado.
TOP PERFORMERS: Nathan MacKinnon has 45 goals and 78 assists for the Avalanche. Mikko Rantanen has scored eight goals with 11 assists over the past 10 games.
Vincent Trocheck has scored 25 goals with 47 assists for the Rangers. Artemi Panarin has eight goals and eight assists over the last 10 games.
Colorado Avalanche goaltender Justus Annunen pulls up his mask for water during a time out in the second period of an NHL hockey game against the Montreal Canadiens Tuesday, March 26, 2024, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)AP
LAST 10 GAMES: Avalanche: 9-1-0, averaging 4.3 goals, 7.9 assists, three penalties and 7.1 penalty minutes while giving up two goals per game.
Rangers: 8-2-0, averaging 3.9 goals, 6.2 assists, 2.8 penalties and 6.7 penalty minutes while giving up 2.5 goals per game.
INJURIES: Avalanche: Gabriel Landeskog: out for season (knee), Pavel Francouz: out for season (groin), Logan O’Connor: out for season (hip).
Rangers: Ryan Lindgren: out (lower body), Jacob Trouba: out (lower-body), Blake Wheeler: out for season (lower-body), Filip Chytil: out for season (upper-body), Erik Gustafsson: day to day (upper body).
The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
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