Lehkonen scores with 15 seconds left, Avalanche end Rangers’ point streak at 10

NEW YORK -- Artturi Lehkonen scored with 15 seconds remaining in the third period, and the Colorado Avalanche ended the New York Rangers’ 10-game point streak with a 5-4 victory at Madison Square Garden on Sunday.

Cale Makar came out of the penalty box, rushed into the defensive zone and intercepted a pass from Will Borgen to Artemi Panarin, starting a 3-on-1 rush that led to Lehkonen scoring with a one-timer from the right face-off circle off a pass from the Avalanche defenseman.

"He made a great takeaway and he just took off, so I just tried to basically follow him and join the rush," Lehkonen said. "He skated into the [offensive] zone and made a great pass to me."

Makar also scored two goals and nearly completed a hat trick in the third period, but his would-be goal was immediately waved off because of goalie interference. Martin Necas and Nathan MacKinnon assisted on both of Makar's goals.

For Necas, they were his first points with the Avalanche (29-20-2), who acquired the forward from the Carolina Hurricanes in a blockbuster trade that also involved the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday.

Mackenzie Blackwood made 33 saves for Colorado, which had lost three in a row (0-2-1), including 3-1 at the Boston Bruins on Saturday hours after trading second-leading scorer Mikko Rantanen to the Hurricanes for Necas and Jack Drury.

"It was big just with the changes to get a win," MacKinnon said. "I think we were pretty dead. That was a tough back-to-back, early mornings right away. They definitely took over in the second half of that game. I thought we had a great start, but [Blackwood] was awesome and unreal game by Cale. Two goals, set up that winner. Great shot by [Lehkonen], but he was a beast."

Panarin scored a game-tying goal with 4:58 remaining, the Rangers (24-21-4) coming back from down 2-0 and 4-2, but their 10-game point streak ended (7-0-3). Vincent Trocheck had a goal and an assist, Reilly Smith had two assists and Igor Shesterkin made 16 saves.

"Everybody's frustrated, disappointed," New York coach Peter Laviolette said. "The guys kept fighting the entire day to get back in the game and finally caught a power play at the end to try to win it. That's a tough loss just based on the day and the effort we put into the day. So, it's frustrating. It's tough."

Makar went to the penalty box with 2:24 remaining for holding Alexis Lafreniere's stick. The Rangers had three shots on goal on the power play.

"Even if it was a penalty, Cale made up for it pretty quickly," MacKinnon said. "What a play by him to seal that win for us."

Colorado went ahead 2-0 in the first period on goals 43 seconds apart from Drury (5:43) and Makar (6:26).

However, Sam Carrick cut it to 2-1 at 7:10, scoring from the left post off a rebound of Matt Rempe's shot, and Trocheck scored off a 2-on-1 with Lafreniere at 8:36 to tie it 2-2.

Makar's power-play goal off a wrist shot from inside the point gave the Avalanche a 3-2 lead at 14:36.

It was Colorado's first goal with the man-advantage in four games and second in 11. The Avalanche were 1-for-26 in their previous 10 games.

They had a second power play in the second period that didn't result in a goal or even a shot on goal, but the Avalanche were dangerous, whipping the puck around well, and Necas hit the crossbar at 10:09.

"We've got to keep building off it," Makar said. "Obviously, we have it. We're going to find it. It was fun. We were generating opportunities, and that's what you've got to do."

Colorado extended the lead to 4-2 at 16:01 of the second on Juuso Parssinen's one-timer from between the circles off a pass from Casey Mittelstadt.

But the Rangers came back again.

Borgen cut it to 4-3 at 18:05, poking a loose puck into the net off a rebound of Smith's shot.

Panarin tied it 4-4 from the left circle off a rebound of Trocheck's one-timer at 15:02 of the third.

They outshot the Avalanche 14-3 in the third and 27-9 over the final 40 minutes.

"Everyone showed up to play today," Smith said. "We controlled the game in waves. A couple errors ended up in the back of our net and made us play catch-up. I think we moved well as a group of five, forechecked well, created a lot of opportunities. On a different night, we win that game."

Instead, Colorado got a key penalty kill, Makar made a special play and Lehkonen won it.

"Good defensive conscience, good work in the offensive zone," Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. "We created a bunch of chances. Power play was good, penalty kill was good. We did some dumb stuff and it cost us, so we've got to clean up a few things, but I thought we got good contributions throughout our lineup.

“To be able to stick with it and end it that way is nice."

NOTES: Avalanche forward Miles Wood (back) was activated from injured reserve before the game and played for the first time since Nov. 27. He played 10:10 after missing 27 games. … Makar has 18 goals, most among NHL defensemen. … Borgen signed a five-year, $20.5 million contract ($4.1 million average annual value) with the Rangers on Saturday. … Lafreniere (two goals, three assists) and Panarin (one goal, three assists) have four-game point streaks.