BUMMER ON B'WAY
Opener spoiled by Avalanche
There was so much hype, so much conjecture, so much unknown going into the start of this Rangers regular season that a loss to last year’s worst team in the league has to feel worse than just one defeat. It has to feel just the way Mika Zibanejad put it after he couldn’t get the final goal to complete his hat trick and the Blueshirts lost to the Avalanche 4-2 on Thursday night at the Garden.
“It sucks,” said Zibanejad, whose two first-period power-play goals just 2:30 apart were all the Rangers could muster on the scoreboard after so many great chances. “It’s always frustrating when you don’t win. A lot of excitement before the game, a lot of excitement coming back for the new season and playing in front of the home fans again. It just sucks.”
It was all a big letdown once Zibanejad was denied on the left doorstop by Colorado goalie Semyon Varlamov with 4 minutes 8 seconds remaining in regulation, the best of Varlamov’s 37 saves — including all 14 shots he faced in the third period — keeping Colorado’s 3-2 lead.
“Best player on the ice was their goaltender,” Rangers coach Alain Vigneault said. “He played a great game, made some big saves.”
This was also a bit of an anticlimactic way for Kevin Shattenkirk to start his career as a Ranger, as the hometown defenseman registered a nifty assist on one of Zibanejad’s goals but finished the game minus-3 (one goal-against being the emptynetter from Gabriel Landeskog with three seconds remaining).
“I think honestly on most nights if we make some of those mistakes that we did tonight, we will be on the wrong side of things,” Shattenkirk said. “I think we saw firsthand the level of play was much higher than it was in the preseason. They came out to play. We fed into what they do well — transition hockey, making skilled plays. They are a fast team and we just kind of fed them in the wrong areas and they were able to capitalize.”
It can be expected most teams will be a little disjointed to start the season, and the Rangers certainly were. For all the offense they created (69 attempts to Colorado’s 44) and for as fast as they looked at times, they made some crucial mistakes in the neutral zone and were often beat getting back by an Avalanche attack that had its defensemen joining the rush almost every time. That included what stood as the game-winner, when Colorado defenseman Tyson Barrie joined the rush late in the second period and beat Henrik Lundqvist’s blocker straight up with a slap shot from the slot.
“I think the biggest thing when you haven’t played for 10 days,” Lundqvist said, “you just try to go out there and build your game.”
The Rangers did push back, with two blasts from Zibanejad’s old man-advantage stomping grounds on the left dot. The second came off a scramble when Shattenkirk showed a tremendous amount of poise to find Zibanejad wide open for a shot into a gaping net.
But even as the chances kept coming in the third, they couldn’t beat Varlamov and now these Rangers are 0-1-0.
“It’s the home opener — fans are jacked, we’re excited,” Nash said. “There’s 81 left, we have to learn from out mistakes and go back to work.”