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 The right winger had a goal and two assists for the first
multi-point game of his career, goaltender Cam Talbot stopped 26
shots, and the New York Rangers beat the Colorado Avalanche 6-3
Thursday night.
Left winger Rick Nash scored his 34th goal, tops in the NHL, and
added an assist, while right winger Mats Zuccarello, left winger
Carl Hagelin and defensemen Dan Boyle and Ryan McDonagh also scored
for the Rangers. McDonagh sealed the win with an empty-netter.
The Rangers (32-16-5) moved into third place in the Metropolitan
Division with their fourth win in the six games. They are three
points behind the Pittsburgh Penguins for second but have a game in
hand.
Hayes is playing a big part in New York's recent surge. He has four
goals in the past 10 games, and he has a four-game points streak.
"He's finding himself in this league," Hagelin said. "He's always
been a good player, he's skating better than he did in the beginning
of the year, and overall he's more comfortable."
 Right winger Jarome Iginla, left winger Gabriel Landeskog and
defenseman Jan Hejda scored, and goaltender Semyon Varlamov made 25
saves for Colorado.
The Avalanche (22-22-11) lost their fourth straight to fall into
last place in the Central Division and 12th in the Western
Conference.
"Right now, we're going through a tough stretch and can't seem to
find a way to win a game," Landeskog said. "Right now, it feels like
we're just finding ways to lose."
Colorado trailed 3-1 entering the third period but tied it up with
goals from Iginla and Hejda.
Iginla knocked in center Maxime Talbot's rebound at 6:43. It was
Iginla's 17th of the season and 577th of his career, tying him with
Mark Recchi for 19th on the all-time list.
Four minutes later, Hejda tied it with his first of the season.
"If you would say to me this morning you're going to be 3-3 with
about 10 minutes left in the game, I would have taken it, especially
having the momentum," Avalanche coach Patrick Roy said. "It was just
that we couldn't get the next one."
The Rangers did. Hagelin gave New York the lead again with his 12th
of the season 1:18 after Hejda tied it. Nash added an insurance goal
at 15:42.
"We could have just rolled over, but as group in the third period, I
thought we came out right from the drop of the puck," Iginla said.
"We put on a ton of pressure, took a ton of shots and tied it up. It
hurts because we battled in a tough game, a roller coaster game, and
we didn't come out with a win."
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Boyle got the Rangers on the board first with his eighth goal of the
season. Hayes made it 2-0 early in the second when he skated past
defenseman Tyson Barrie and beat Varlamov from close in.
"I was thinking get it deep, but there was no one in front of me,"
Hayes said. "The (defenseman) gave me some space, and I cut it
back."
Landeskog made it 2-1 with his 11th goal of the season. He scored
when center Nathan MacKinnon's shot from the point was deflected by
center John Mitchell. The puck then went off Landeskog's chest and
past Talbot at 12:46 of the second.
Colorado had a chance to tie with 1:53 of a two-man advantage later
in the second, but the struggling Avalanche power play managed just
two shots on Talbot. Zuccarello scored 32 seconds after the Rangers
killed off both penalties, making it 3-1. It was his 11th of the
season.
"That's the biggest part of the game right there," Hayes said. "We
lose momentum, they score and penalty, penalty. That was the best
play of the game there."
The Avalanche were 0-for-4 on the power play and are now 0-for-31 in
the past 10 games. The Rangers converted one of their two power
plays.
NOTES: The Avalanche assigned D Karl Stollery to Lake Erie of the
AHL. ... New York LW Rick Nash is the third Rangers player since
1995-96 to have at least 33 goals in the first 50 games. Mark
Messier (36 goals) and Pat Verbeek (34) are the other two. ...
Avalanche C Ryan O'Reilly played in his 400th career game. ...
Rangers RW Jesper Fast missed his third game with a sprained knee.
Fast is expected to miss two to three weeks. ... Colorado C
Marc-Andre Cliche was scratched from the lineup.
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
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