The New York Rangers had trouble keeping up with the Colorado Avalanche's speed and explosiveness, en route to a 6-3 loss on Thursday night. 

Before getting to what went wrong for the Blueshirts, there were parts of the game that Rangers fans should be encouraged about. 

There was a lot of pressure mounting on J.T. Miller going into this matchup, as he had only scored one goal in his previous nine games, which prompted him to criticize himself after the Rangers’ Tuesday night loss to the Vegas Golden Knights. 

To open up the contest, Miller scored a quick power-play goal, a big weight lifted off of the captain’s shoulders, and to make matters better, Miller struck gold on the man advantage later on in the game. 

The Rangers had two power play opportunities on the night and it was clicking on all cylinders. Mike Sullivan made an adjustment to the first power-play unit dating from their last game, replacing Will Cuylle with Vincent Trocheck, who played the bumper position, which allowed Artemi Panarin to move to his strong side and Mika Zibanejad on the backside, giving him a one-timer chance and just overall more room to operate with the puck. 

Miller played the netfront position to perfection, scoring a tap-in goal off of a feed from Zibanejad and deflecting Fox’s shot from the point. 

“We obviously scored a couple of power-play goals. I thought they were really good,” Sullivan said. “They were moving the puck. That was one of the more high-pressure kills in the league. They really put pressure on you to make plays. And I thought the guys, they executed really well.”

Those were the positives, but there was a lot that went wrong for the Rangers. 

The Rangers, clearly going up against the more talented and explosive team, applied a more defensive strategy and tried to take whatever the Avalanche would give them. 

While the Rangers hung around and even held a couple of leads, they weren’t able to keep up with Colorado's up-pace tempo for a full 60 minutes. 

The Avalanche decimated the Rangers in transition and were able to create offensive chances through their blazing speed. 

With the Blueshirts on their toes throughout the entire night, Colorado was able to draw five penalties. 

Despite a strong performance on the penalty kill from the Rangers, when you allow a team the likes of the Avalanche to get five power-play attempts, you’re going to pay a price, and that’s exactly what happened.

Colorado’s power play went 1-5, but got a critical goal from Brock Nelson in the third period. 

“When you play a team like that and take that many penalties, it makes it hard,” Sullivan said of all of the penalties the Rangers committed. “I thought from a structure standpoint, our penalty kill had way better semblance of structure in the defensive zone. They're a hard team on the entries, because they come with so much speed and dynamic.”

Mike Sullivan Adjusts Top-Six Forward Line Combinations Due To Lack Of Offensive Production Mike Sullivan made a significant shake-up to his top-six forward unit ahead of the New York <a href="https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/new-york-rangers">Rangers</a>’ Thursday night matchup against the Colorado Avalanche.

The Avalanche currently hold the best record in the entire NHL, sitting at 14-1-5. The talent differential between Colorado and New York was prevalent and glaringly obvious to the watchful eye.  

The Rangers have been playing a much more structured and defensively sound game compared to last season. 

However, they don’t have the same level of talent and offensive explosiveness that a team like the Avalanche possesses, so it’s difficult to remain competitive in these sorts of matchups. 

“I thought we were opportunistic, finding ways to stay in the game,” Sullivan said. “That’s definitely the best team that we’ve played all year and they might be the best team in the league right now with how explosive they are.”

This game was almost a wake-up call to where New York truly stands among the league’s best teams. 

The reality is that while the Rangers have continued to make strides since Mike Sullivan’s arrival, they are far off from the ultimate goal of being a true Stanley Cup contender. Watching them against the Avalanche only heightened and validated that perspective. 

The Rangers will be back in action on Saturday night against the Utah Mammoth.