Avalanche defeats Ryan Reaves, NY Rangers to extend winning streak to five games

The play of the game might have been during a stoppage in play on Tuesday night at an electric Ball Arena.

Avalanche defenseman Kurtis MacDermid dropped New York Rangers forward Ryan Reaves in a fight before Colorado downed the Blueshirts 4-2 to extend its winning streak to five games — a stretch that includes two victories over the fabled Original Six franchise.

MacDermid was acquired in the offseason to combat players like Reaves, who intimidated the Avs while playing for the Vegas Golden Knights last season. In fact, Reaves’ tactics helped change the momentum in a second-round series the Avs lost 4-2 after winning the first two.

The Avs, who lost ice-time leader and top-pair defenseman Devon Toews to COVID protocol before the game, play with less fear with MacDermid in the lineup, and used his big win over Reaves with goals from Mikko Rantanen, Cale Makar and Valeri Nichushkin (two) to extend their points streak to seven games (6-0-1).

Nichushkin scored his second tally on a breakaway in the final minute, after New York got within 3-2.

“Dermy’s a strong guy. Two heavy boys fighting but it looked like Dermy got the best of that one,” Makar said of MacDermid’s fight.

Centers Nathan MacKinnon and Nazem Kadri each had two assists and goalie Darcy Kuemper improved to 9-1 in his last nine starts. Kadri returned from a two-game injury absence and produced his 12th multiple-goal game to extend his team scoring lead to 36 points in just 23 games.

Colorado (17-7-2) got goals from Rantanen and Makar (power play) to take a 2-0 lead out of the first period. The Rangers (18-7-3) drew two early penalties in the second period and had the Avs on their heels, and cut the deficit to 2-1 with Ryan Strome’s tip-in from a pass from the point by defenseman Adam Fox at 10:36 — a minute after the MacDermid-Reaves fight.

Colorado regained a two-goal advantage with Nichushkin’s stuff-in off Kadri’s rebound at 18:45.

The Avs appeared to take a 4-1 lead midway through the third period when forward J.T. Compher scored a power-play goal, but the Rangers challenged goalie interference and won the argument.

Makar’s goal was his career-high 13th of the season, one more than he had all last season, and he became the first NHL defenseman to reach 13 goals through the first 23 games since Dave Ellett had 15 through 23 for the Jets in 1988-89.

Footnotes. Colorado has won eight consecutive home games and is 9-0-1 in its last nine. The Avs are 26-2-2 in their last 29 games at Ball Arena. … Rookie defenseman Justin Barron made his NHL debut for the Avs as the replacement for Toews, who will miss at least six games through Christmas. Barron, 20, was on the third pairing with MacDermid. … The Avs continue on without left wing and team captain Gabe Landeskog, who is in the midst of a two-week injury absence.