Cale Makar was denied a hat trick Sunday afternoon. He won the game for the Colorado Avalanche anyway. Makar came out of the penalty box, picked off a pass and set up Artturi Lehkonen with 14.7 seconds in the third period for the winning goal in a wild 5-4 victory for the Avs against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden.

Artturi Lehkonen scored the tiebreaking goal with 14.7 seconds left and Mackenzie Blackwood made 33 saves and the Colorado Avalanche defeated the New York Rangers 5-4.

Cale Makar scored twice and set up the tiebreaking goal by Artturi Lehkonen with 15 seconds remaining as the revamped Colorado Avalanche blew a pair of two-goal leads before earning a dramatic 5-4 victory over the host New York Rangers on Sunday afternoon.

MacKinnon leads the NHL in points (77) and assists (58). Among NHL defensemen, Makar is first in goals (18), tied for first in points (56) and being for second in assists (38). Necas is seventh in the NHL in assists (41).

The New York Rangers made it very clear there are no moral victories for them after 5-4 loss to Colorado Avalanche.

The loss leaves the Rangers (24-21-4) three points behind the Tampa Bay Lightning (26-19-3), who hold the second wild-card berth in the Eastern Conference; the Bolts are even in points with the Columbus Blue Jackets (24-19-7) but have two games in hand. They are four points behind the Boston Bruins (25-20-6), who own the first wild card.

Ridly Greig opened the scoring for Ottawa with a short-handed goal with 7:44 left in the second period. Clayton Keller tied it 1:36 later. Karel Vejmelka stopped 24 shots for Utah, which closed a three-game trip with its second straight loss.

The Rangers fell to the Avalanche 5-4 with 15 seconds left in regulation, and the point that got away could be costly.

A revitalizing January took the Rangers to the 50-game mark of their 2024-25 season, which was essentially hanging in the balance just a month ago. The way it ended, however, had shades of the dismal 4-15 stretch that nearly doomed their playoff hopes.

The #NYR have the distinction of allowing the first post-trade point to everyone in the Mikko Rantanen blockbuster. Rantanen and Taylor Hall each have assists tonight, their first points as Hurricanes. Jack Drury scored against NY on Sunday, and Martin Nečas had two assists.

The Colorado Avalanche (29-20-2) close out their three-game road trip against the New York Islanders (21-20-7) on Tuesday. Puck drop is scheduled for 5:38 p.m. MT. READ MORE: Did Mikko Rantanen Force Chris MacFarland’s Hand?