Postgame Notes & Quotes New York Rangers 6, Colorado
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Postgame Notes & Quotes New York Rangers 6, Colorado Avalanche 2 Saturday, Dec. 31, 2016 The Avalanche is now 3-2-1 when playing at home on New Year’s Eve and 7-5-2 overall. Tyson Barrie appeared in his 300th NHL game and with the primary assist on Cody McLeod’s first-period goal, extended his assist streak to a career high four games (6a). His current four-game point streak is just one short of his career high set Jan. 25 – Feb. 3, 2014. With his tally at the end of the first period, Blake Comeau now has 13 markers and 22 points in 30 career games against the Rangers, his highest totals against any team. Jarome Iginla skated in his 200th consecutive contest, which is the second-longest current ironman streak on the team behind Carl Soderberg (205). Cody McLeod’s goal at 1:59 of the opening period was the fastest to begin a game by an Avalanche player this season. With the win tonight, Henrik Lundqvist passed Dominik Hasek to take sole possession of 12th place on the NHL’s all-time wins list (390) and become the all-time leader in wins by a European-born goaltender in NHL history. With his second career hat trick and first of the season, Chris Kreider registered his second multi-goal game in his last four outings and team-leading eighth multi-point game of the season. He has now accumulated six goals and two assists over his current four-game point streak and finishes the month tied with Sidney Crosby for the most goals (11) scored in December. Mats Zuccarello finished with two assists, extending his assist streak to a career-high six games. J.T. Miller notched two goals and has now picked up four points through his last two games (3g, 1a). The Chris Kreider-Derek Stepan-Mats Zuccarello line combined for seven points (three goals, four assists) and has totaled 22 points (9g, 13a) in the last three contests. Colorado C Gabriel Landeskog On Tonight’s Game: “I think we did a pretty good job in the first period of grinding back in the game and keep tying it up. In the second, we get in some penalty troubles and it feels like they get – I don’t want to call them bounces – but we stopped putting pucks in deep and eventually, those turnovers are going to cost you against a team like this. It still felt like going into the third, we still had control of what we wanted to do and still knew out there what we wanted to do and just come out short. The third period wasn’t good at all.” On The Outcome Tonight: “I mean, 10 straight at home, that’s embarrassing, that’s flat- out embarrassing. That isn’t the way anyone wants to play at home. We talk about it all the time, you want to be a dominant home team and obviously the end of 2016 at home and on the road hasn’t been good enough. Like you said, we have to start fresh and that starts on Monday in Vancouver.” Colorado C Matt Duchene On The Avs’ Performance Tonight: “We had a lot of guys working hard tonight, we had a lot of guys playing hard. Our compete was really good. I’m at a loss, I don’t know what more to say. We have to play a perfect game to win a hockey game right now and when we do, we win.” On Playing Against The New York Rangers: “Well you have to be aware of their speed. You have to make sure the forwards are tracking back hard against their speed. They had a couple of breaks early on that didn’t cost us. They are a good team; they are going to be a Stanley Cup contender this year. We hung with them 5-on-5, it was [us being] down a man where they got momentum.” New York Rangers C Chris Kreider On The Team’s Performance Tonight: “Obviously offense was going. We did some things we talked about defensively. There is some building blocks in that game and stuff we can build off going forward.” On Getting To The Front Of The Net: “I think that area is kind of feast or famine. We want to get there, take the goalies eyes away. A lot of times it doesn’t hit you but creates a chance, makes it harder on the goaltender. Sometimes it hits you and drops there, sometimes it hits you pretty good and knocks you down for a couple of seconds but occasionally, they glance off of you and go in. Talking about mindset, we just have to continue to do that as a group.” New York Rangers C J.T. Miller On Getting Two Goals Tonight: “Obviously, they haven’t been going in for a month or so. It’s frustrating. You try not to get too high or too low in those games. It’s nice to see a couple go in. It’s kind of funny, it doesn’t make you have a good game if you score a couple of goals. Obviously, it’s nice to see it go in but honestly, it’s just a big two points on the road for us.” On New York’s Top Line: “Well they have a little bit of everything. Kreids (New York Rangers C Chris Kreider) with his speed backs off of the D and Steps’ (New York Rangers C Derek Stepan) vision and patience and Zucchy (New York Rangers C Mats Zuccarello) kind of does everything so it’s a really hard line to stop and obviously they are clicking on all cylinders right now.” .