NEW YORK — Alexandar Georgiev spent his first five seasons in the NHL with the Rangers, the last two serving as backup to Igor Shesterkin, before getting traded to the Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche at last summer’s NHL Draft. On Tuesday night, Georgiev returned to Madison Square Garden with the Avalanche to square off with Shesterkin, and the result was a wonderful game.
In the end, Georgiev got the dream return, making 44 saves in regulation and overtime and then one final stop on Alexis Lafreniere on the final shot of the shootout to backstop the Avalanche to a 3-2 victory that kept the Rangers winless in their last three games (0-1-2).
After Mikko Rantanen and Artemi Panarin scored as the third shooter for each team, Evan Rodrigues beat Shesterkin with a forehand-backhand-forehand move to give the Avalanche the lead in the tiebreaker. Lafreniere went forehand, but Georgiev got his pads down and made the save to get the win for the Avs (4-2-1).
A mistake by Shesterkin (42 saves in regulation/OT) led to what looked as if it might be the deciding goal 59 seconds into the third period. With the Rangers (3-2-2) on a power play, Shesterkin went into the corner to get a loose puck and tried to set up the attack. But he mishandled the puck, and Colorado forward Andrew Cogliano stole it from him and passed to Logan O’Connor, who fired a shot into the net before Shesterkin could scramble back into position.
But Adam Fox got that goal back for Shesterkin and the Rangers with 5:57 left in regulation. Breaking out on a two-on-one with Barclay Goodrow, Fox passed to a trailing Jimmy Vesey, who returned it to Fox, who tapped it in behind Georgiev to tie it at 2 and force overtime.
Georgiev and Dryden Hunt, who was claimed by the Avalanche off waivers from the Rangers last week, returned to the Garden as visitors for the first time, as Colorado opened a three-game, weeklong tour of the metropolitan area.
The Avs play the Devils on Friday at Prudential Arena in Newark, and then face the Islanders on Saturday at UBS Arena.
“They’re both good, guys,’’ Rangers coach Gerard Gallant said of Georgiev and Hunt. “’Georgie’ had a good year with us last year. He competed hard, and it was really good to know him. And you know, it’s a good start for him. I think he’s the number one goalie over there. I’m not trying to be their coach, but I think that’s where they put him right now. And he’s played really well.’’
Georgiev entered the game with a 3-0-1 record, a 2.76 goals-against average and a .908 save percentage, numbers very similar to Shesterkin, who was also 3-0-1, with a 2.75 GAA and .901 save percentage.
Each goaltender was sharp, and had to be, as the two teams threw haymakers at one another throughout the first two periods.
Colorado dominated the first period, piling 20 shots on goal against Shesterkin and taking a 1-0 lead on a power-play goal by Valeri Nichushkin at 11:40. The Avalanche power play entered the game as the NHL’s top man-advantage unit, scoring on 52.9% of their opportunities.
But Shesterkin kept the Rangers in it despite heavy pressure from the Avalanche, and the Rangers slowly took control of the second period, when they outshot Colorado 15-7. They eventually tied the score when Goodrow finished a tic-tac-toe play on a rush that went Sammy Blais to Jacob Trouba to Goodrow, who scored his second goal of the season, at 18:06 of the period.
