For all the losses the Rangers have lamented with positives less than 30 games into the season, none were more deserving than Saturday afternoon’s hard-fought 3-2 overtime loss to the NHL-leading Avalanche.
In more ways than one, the Blueshirts challenged a Colorado team whose game-breaking talent outweighs theirs. Star Nathan MacKinnon, who is an early favorite for the Hart Trophy, was the main difference with two goals — including the OT winner — in the Avs’ 15th victory in their last 18 games.
It may have been a game that fell into the loss column, but it was still the kind of effort the Rangers will want to ingrain in their still-forming identity.
“We talk about identity and, kind of like Sully [coach Mike Sullivan] mentioned, [the] two seasons we’ve played,” captain J.T. Miller said after the game. “Seems like every time we get some momentum like this, feeling good about our game, we kind of regress and go back into the other version of the game we don’t like. It’s really important that we reset every game and have that mindset of, ‘We haven’t earned anything yet. We have to keep going.’ If we want to build a standard and identity, we have to do it every single day. That’s kind of been the mindset lately and we’ve obviously shown a lot of progress since that Tampa game.
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