The second period started off with Nathan MacKinnon taking back the lead, followed by four more Colorado goals. Of those four, Logan O'Connor scored back-to-back goals within 22 seconds to end the period.
The contest ended with one goal from each the Avalanche and the Rangers.
THE GOALS
1st Period
4:11 COL (1-0) - Nazem Kadri passed the puck to Mikko Rantanen at the blue line for Rantanen to take a shot moving towards the net and put the puck past Adam Huska.
6:56 NYR (1-1) - Artemi Panarin passed the puck from the corner to Jacob Trouba at the blue line. Trouba took a wrist shot from the top of the zone through traffic and found the back of the net.
18:15 NYR (1-2) - PPG Nils Lundkvist took a shot from the left circle and went bar-down past Darcy Kuemper for his first NHL goal.
2nd Period
4:48 COL (2-2) - With a little fight for the puck in the neutral zone, Nathan MacKinnon stayed with the puck into the zone long enough to poke it into the net as he staked past.
6:11 COL (3-2) - Cale Makar shot the puck from the blue line through traffic for Nazem Kadri to redirect into the net.
10:42 COL (4-2) - PPG Alex Newhook from Samuel Girard at the left circle, for Newhook to take a hard shot and land the puck above the glove of Adam Huska.
17:14 COL (5-2) - Logan O'Connor brought the puck into the zone to pull off a toe drag past a couple of Rangers and shot the puck over Adam Huska's shoulder.
17:36 COL (6-2) - Logan O'Connor on a breakaway for back-to-back goals.
3rd Period
11:52 NYR (6-3) - Alexis Lafreniere with a cross ice pass to Filip Chytil, for Chytil to shoot and land the puck in the back of the net.
13:25 COL (7-3) - Erik Johnson took a shot from the blue line for Mikko Rantanen to deflect the puck into the net.
Final:Avalanche 7, Rangers 3
3 STARS
POWER PLAYS
Colorado: 1/5
New York: 1/5
GOALTENDING BATTLE
Colorado: Darcy Kuemper and Jonas Johansson combined to allow 3 goals on 30 shots.
New York: Adam Huska allowed 7 goals on 39 shots.
STAT OF THE NIGHT
Gabriel Landeskog continues his point streak to nine games (three goals, nine assists) with the assist tonight, this ties his career high.
NOTEBOOK
Tonight's game is the first meeting between the Avalanche and the Rangers since March 11, 2020, which ended up as the last game before the league wide shut down the next day due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Before tonight, the Avalanche are the only NHL team to score six-plus goals six different times this season and the only NHL team to score seven goals in four different games. Avalanche defensemen have tallied 25 goals and top the NHL, they are only one goal shy of their total goals (26) during the 2020-2021 season. Cale Makar has scored 11 goals so far this season, which is one short of his career high set during the 2019-2020 season. Tonight's game marks Erik Johnson's 600th game with the Colorado Avalanche.
ROSTER REPORT
Justus Annunen has been reassigned to the American Hockey League affiliate, the Colorado Eagles after his first NHL career start and win on Monday Dec. 6 and an appearance in net on Saturday Dec. 4. Darcy Kuemper rejoins the squad after being out with an upper-body injury since Dec. 1.
INJURY UPDATE
Bowen Byram remains day-to-day with an upper body injury. J.T. Compher continues to be out due to an upper-body injury sustained on Nov. 13.
UP NEXT
The Colorado Avalanche return home after two weeks on the road to face the Detroit Red Wings on Friday.
LINE COMBINATIONS
Based on the start of the game
Forwards
92 Landeskog - 29 MacKinnon - 25 O'Connor
13 Nichushkin - 91 Kadri - 96 Rantanen
43 Helm - 18 Newhook - 95 Burakovsky
56 MacDermid - 17 Jost - 16 Aube-Kubel
Defensemen
7 Toews - 8 Makar
49 Girard - 6 E. Johnson
3 J. Johnson - 26 MacDonald
Goaltenders
35 Kuemper
31 Johansson
