DENVER — Shootout goals by Mika Zibanejad and Artemi Panarin against old friend Alexandar Georgiev and two saves by Igor Shesterkin powered the Rangers to a 2-1 victory over the Avalanche on Friday night and a sweep of their two-game road trip to Las Vegas and Denver.
Shesterkin, who made 41 saves in regulation time and overtime, had two big ones in overtime to get the Rangers to the tiebreaker. He made a big glove save on Cale Makar with 1:43 left in overtime, then slid across left to right and did the splits to get his right pad on a back post tap-in try by Devon Toews right at the buzzer.
The Rangers will travel home Saturday and face the Devils on Monday at Madison Square Garden.
The teams were tied at 1-1 after two periods and played a scoreless third, with each team getting one power play in the period. The Rangers had a right to feel as though they deserved more than that, as Barclay Goodrow appeared to be tripped from behind while on a partial breakaway early in the period. There was no penalty shot, nor even a penalty called on the play.
The new-look top line, with Zibanejad between 21-year-old wingers Alexis Lafrenière and Kaapo Kakko, had a rough first period, as they were pinned in their own zone on most of their shifts and were on for the Avalanche’s first-period goal, which opened the scoring at 14:38. Zibanejad lost a defensive- zone faceoff to Mikko Rantanen and Rantanen ended up scoring the goal, blasting a one-timer off a pass from Alex Newhook through traffic and past Shesterkin for his 16th goal.
The Rangers had a better performance in the second period and tied it at 1-1 on a goal by the surging Braden Schneider. Schneider joined the rush, took a drop pass from Panarin and whipped a shot past old teammate Georgiev at 4:56. The goal was Schneider’s fourth of the season and fourth in the last 10 games.
