New York Rangers vs Colorado Avalanche prediction
New York Rangers
The cops, having survived a terrible December, are back in business. The Rangers had suffered only one defeat in the previous 5 matches, and the two extreme victories were more than convincing - Ottawa (5:0) and Philadelphia (6:1) were eliminated. And Peter Laviolette's team is seriously going to compete for the playoffs, now New York is 11th, only 3 points behind the wild card.
Not to say that the rise of the "cops" was associated with the outstanding performance of the traditional leaders of the team - Zibanejad, Krider and Panarin. Between the three of them, these forwards scored only 5 points in the previous four meetings. Now the Rangers have other players standing out. This is Alexis Lafrienier, who has 2+2 on the specified segment, defenders K'Andre Miller (1+3) and Adam Fox (1+5). So far, changing the attacking vector is helping the Blue Shirts a lot, but it's time for the leaders to wake up. And the main star of the team, without whom the Rangers would not even think about the playoffs, is, without a doubt, Igor Shesterkin. Two "crackers" with Ottawa and Columbus (1-0 B) and 97% of saves in the game with Philadelphia are the most powerful indicators that the Colorado players probably keep in mind before the upcoming meeting.
Colorado Avalanche
The Avalanches have entered another black streak. The Evs have only one victory in their previous five meetings, and the Denvers come to New York with a series of 3 defeats. Colorado successively lost to stunted Minnesota (1:3), unstable Winnipeg (2:3 OT) and Boston (1:3). Until recently, the Avalanche's position in the playoff zone was unshakable, and now they are in 7th place in the Western Conference with only 3 points separating them from the pursuer in the face of Calgary.
But in the transfer market, Colorado is the main headliner along with Carolina. The clubs arranged a high-profile exchange, during which the second scorer of the team with 64 points, Mika Rantanen, was exchanged for Nechas and Hall. Rantanen himself, according to the Athletic, was stunned by such a deal, and his former Colorado teammate Eric Johnson, who now plays in Philadelphia, reacted briefly and succinctly: "What kind of game is this?". And it's hard to disagree with him. Evs was largely exported at the expense of its first powerful link, where the Mackinnon-Rantanen pair was playing. There are no guarantees that Necha (a high-class forward, of course) will immediately join the Avalanche game. But it was precisely due to the formidable attack that Jared Bednar's team overcame numerous defensive errors. If this was a deal with an eye on the playoffs, then Colorado, judging by the latest results, may not get there at all.
Prediction
The Rangers have been playing well with Colorado in recent years. In the previous four meetings, the Cops had three wins over the Evs, and the last defeat with a score of 2:3 (in overtime) happened recently, when the Rangers were still recovering from a precipitous drop down the table. Right now, the Blue Shirts are on a morale boost, while the camp of Colorado, which is already in a gloomy state, is probably in turmoil caused by the latest transfer. In addition, this will be Colorado's second game in 24 hours, while the Rangers had almost 24 hours more to recover. But even if the Rangers win, it is unlikely that this success will be easy for them - the 5 previous face-to-face meetings between these rivals ended either in overtime or in a shootout. Therefore, I take the victory of the "cops" with a safety net in the form of a zero handicap.
