Recap: Colorado Avalanche earn shootout victory over New York Rangers, 4-3.

The Colorado Avalanche came away with a much-needed win Thursday night, collecting two points in a shootout victory over the New York Rangers at The Garden, 4-3. Nathan MacKinnon and Alex Tanguay both scored in the shootout period, pushing the Avalanche to their fifth victory of the 2014-15′ season.

The Avs’ looked very good in the first period minus the final minutes. The puck was moving around – not so much in their zone. Colorado outshot the Rangers in the first period, 12-6 as they applied the pressure from the start. Matt Duchene put the Avalanche on the board first, taking advantage of the rebound attempt and shooting it past Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist.

The second period was a completely different story as Colorado’s momentum was nowhere to be found. Despite Alex Tanguay”s goal – his seventh of the season, Colorado gave up three, third period goals to the Rangers. Kevin Hayes collected his second goal of the season while Derek Stephan and Dan Girardi notched their first of the young season – making it  3-2 Rangers after two.

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Colorado needed to respond in the third period as they did just that. The kid Nathan MacKinnon notched his fifth goal of the season as his shot re-deflected off the defenseman, going five-hole to beat Lundqvist. MacKinnon’s equalizer led Colorado and New York into the overtime period, tied at three apiece.

Overtime was a back and forth affair as the Avs’ had a couple of good plays. Erik Johnson practically saved the game as the puck trickled behind Semyon Varlamov who had no clue. Johnson was quick to notice and immediately shot the puck out of the zone. Alex Tanguay nearly ended the game on a backhand attempt that drilled off the right crossbar as both teams headed to the shootout period.

Nathan MacKinnon went first for the Avs’ and went top-shelf on a wrist shot to give Colorado the 1-0 advantage. After a Mats Zuccarello miss, Matt Duchene was stuffed by Lundqvist. On the ensuing attempt from the Rangers, Derek Stephan capitalized as he beat Varlamov to tie it up at one apiece.

Alex Tanguay was up next and his patience was shown. Tanguay skated up and waited for Lundqvist to sprawl out before shooting the puck – scoring as Lundqvist literally had no chance. It was all up to Lee Stempniak to tie it up but he was denied by Varlamov, giving Colorado the 4-3 shootout victory.

The Colorado Avalanche (5-8-5, 15 points) resume their four-game road trip Saturday night, taking on the New Jersey Devils at the Prudential Center. Puck-drop is scheduled for 7:00 PM EST, 5:00 PM MST.