Shesterkin makes 41 saves for Rangers in shootout win against Avalanche

DENVER -- Igor Shesterkin made 41 saves, and the New York Rangers defeated the Colorado Avalanche 2-1 in a shootout at Ball Arena on Friday.

"We found a way to win tonight with unbelievable goaltending. Obviously, that was the biggest need for us tonight," New York coach Gerard Gallant said. "We didn't play our best, but the goaltender was incredible."
Braden Schneider scored, and Artemi Panarin extended his assist streak to five games (nine assists) for the Rangers (14-10-5), who have won three straight and are 4-1-1 in their past six games.
"We didn't manage the puck near as well as we did last game (5-1 win against the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday)," Gallant said.
"We didn't seem to have much skating legs tonight, and we made a lot of plays in front of their defense that turned over and they went the other way. But again, I'm pretty happy with the win, but we got to be better than that most nights."

Mikko Rantanen scored, and Alexandar Georgiev made 28 saves for the Avalanche (13-10-2), who have lost four straight (0-3-1) and been outscored 15-5 during that stretch.
"I thought our execution was way better tonight, especially on the attack," Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. "Overtime was well managed by our group, I thought smart but still in attack mode. We had three really good looks in overtime, a chance to win the game, but couldn't get one by him."
The Avalanche outshot the Rangers 11-5 in the third period and 5-1 in overtime.

Rantanen gave Colorado a 1-0 lead at 14:38 of the first period, one-timing a pass from Alex Newhook from the left face-off circle.
"Today was the best game we played with this group for a while, so next game we're going to try and beat today's performance," Bednar said. "We have to carve out points. However long it takes, we have to just continually get better."
Schneider tied it 1-1 at 4:56 of the second period when Panarin found him trailing and he stepped into the shot in the high slot.
"We got a turnover and I was boxing a guy out and I'd seen 'Bread' take off with one of our other guys and I'd seen a runway," Schneider said. "I didn't see anyone backchecking to the middle, so I thought I would jump. Bread made a perfect pass and I just put it as hard as I could to the net."
Mika Zibanejad and Panarin scored in the shootout for New York.
NOTES: Shesterkin is 8-0-1 with a 2.09 goals-against average and .930 save percentage in nine road games (all starts). He has eleven 40-save NHL wins, tying Mike Richter and John Vanbiesbrouck for the third-most in New York history since 1955-56. Only Gump Worsley (22) and Henrik Lundqvist (21) have more. … Rantanen has 24 points (12 goals, 12 assists) in 11 home games. … Avalanche forward Valeri Nichushkin had three shots on goal and was plus-1 in 22:02 of ice time after missing 17 games following ankle surgery.