NEW YORK — The Rangers knew it was not going to be easy on Wednesday night.
They were on the wrong end of a back-to-back that had them get home from Chicago at 3 a.m.
They were facing one of the most dangerous offensive teams in the NHL in the Avalanche.
And they were starting a goaltender making his NHL debut by way of Slovakia and the University of Connecticut named Adam Huska, whom coach Gerard Gallant inserted to give Alexandar Georgiev a blow.
Huska not only was a recent callup from Hartford of the AHL but had been a backup there to Farmingville native Keith Kinkaid.
Even with all of that, the net result was even worse than the Rangers could have anticipated, a 7-3 defense-challenged blowout at Madison Square Garden that ended their seven-game winning streak and dropped them to 17-5-3.
The Avalanche scored five goals and hit the goal post twice in the second period alone.
It only was one game, of course, and need not change the narrative arc of the Rangers’ recent strong play. But it was a heck of a lousy night for the home team, which had an eight-game home winning streak snapped.
Huska looked comfortable in saving 18 of 19 shots from the high-powered Avalanche in the first period, which ended with the Rangers leading, 2-1.
Colorado (14-7-2) got on the board first at 4:11 when Mikko Rantanen beat Huska from the slot past defenseman Adam Fox.
The fast start for Colorado did not bode well for the Rangers, considering their inexperienced goalie and the fact the Avalanche entered the game averaging a league-best 4.14 goals.
But it did not take long for the Rangers to answer. Jacob Trouba scored from just inside the blue line, the puck finding its way through a thicket of bodies and past goaltender Darcy Kuemper at 6:56.
The Rangers had a great chance to take the lead when a Barclay Goodrow takeaway presented them with a rare 2-on-0 shorthanded breakaway.
Goodrow fed Kevin Rooney, but Kuemper made an excellent stop with his left pad to keep the score tied.
The hot Rangers power play failed on its first chance but succeeded on its second. With Jacob MacDonald off for holding Mika Zibanejad, Nils Lundkvist ripped a high shot over Kuemper at 18:15.
It was the 21-year-old defenseman’s first NHL goal. He celebrated with a fist pump that knocked him off balance and sent him to the ice.
The Rangers' power play was 2-for-2 in Chicago on Tuesday night and in the seven games prior to Wednesday’s it was 7-for-19. Entering Wednesday, they had the fourth-best power play in the league.
"It's obviously going to go up and down during this season,’’ Zibanejad said of the power play after Tuesday’s game.
"Some games you get frustrated, and you try to do too much, but I think at the end of the day, speaking to our time together over these years now, I think when we kind of just get back to doing what we what we do best, it works out."
Things fell apart quickly for the Rangers in the second period. At 4:48, Nathan MacKinnon skated around K’Andre Miller and gently poked the puck between Huska’s pads to make it 2-2.
At 6:11, Nazem Kadri tipped in a Cale Makar shot to make it 3-2. At 10:42, with Ryan Reaves off for tripping, Alex Newhook beat Huska high to his glove wide from the left circle to make it 4-2.
At 17:14, O’Connor made a nifty move around Miller and beat Huska with another high shot. Twenty-two seconds later, O’Connor scored again, this time on a breakaway, and it was 6-2.
Colorado’s Samuel Girard bowled over Huska midway through the third period, sparking a brief melee.
Filip Chytil made it 6-3 with 8:08 remaining.
