Alexandar Georgiev made a season-high 44 saves in his return to New York and then made three more in a shootout to remain unbeaten with his new team as the Colorado Avalanche earned a 3-2 victory over the host Rangers on Tuesday night.
Evan Rodrigues netted the game-winning goal in the fourth round of the shootout as the defending Stanley Cup champions survived blowing a pair of one-goal leads.
Georgiev was named the first star of the night and capped his return by stopping Alexis Lafreniere to clinch the victory. He also survived Colorado being short-handed for the final 89 seconds of overtime after Nathan MacKinnon hooked Artemi Panarin from behind on a partial breakaway.
Georgiev got a “Welcome Back” message on the scoreboard during a stoppage early in the first that produced cheers from the crowd and then improved to 4-0-1 for the Avalanche, who acquired his rights from New York and signed him to a three-year deal. He returned to the place where he began his NHL career as Henrik Lundqvist’s backup during the 2017-18 campaign and started 117 games, ultimately becoming the backup when Igor Shesterkin emerged.
Colorado’s Valeri Nichushkin scored a power-play goal in the first period and Logan O’Connor netted a short-handed goal in the opening minute of the third for Colorado.
Adam Fox and Barclay Goodrow scored in regulation, but the Rangers dropped their third straight when Georgiev made pad saves on Kaapo Kakko and Mika Zibanejad in the opening two rounds of the shootout.
Shesterkin made 42 saves but allowed a goal to Mikko Rantanen in the third round of the shootout and fell backwards into the net when Rodrigues lifted a backhander past him for the game-winner.
Fox helped the Rangers get a point by scoring with 5:57 left in the third after making a defensive play on MacKinnon.
Fox forced MacKinnon into a turnover near the blue line in the Colorado offensive zone and then carried the puck up the right side before passing to Goodrow. Fox then crashed the net and re-directed a pass from Jimmy Vesey by Georgiev’s glove.
Colorado opened the scoring when Nichushkin easily tipped a wrister from Cale Makar over Shesterkin’s left pad after MacKinnon dug the puck out of the left corner.
Goodrow tied it with 1:54 left in the second by finishing off a three-on-two with Jacob Trouba. O’Connor restored Colorado’s lead after getting a pass from Andrew Cogliano following a giveaway by Shesterkin in the right corner.
–Field Level Media