3 least impressive players from the New York Rangers' 5-4 loss to the Colorado Avalanche feat. Mika Zibanejad

The New York Rangers lost 5-4 to the Colorado Avalanche in a back-and-forth battle on Sunday afternoon at Madison Square Garden. With the loss, New York dropped to 24-21-4 (52 points) on the campaign, while Colorado improved to 29-20-2 (60 points) with the road win.

The Rangers came into Sunday's action on a 10-game point streak, a 7-3-0 stretch that's brought them back into the playoff mix. Even with the recent success, New York was still three points out of a playoff spot, so they didn't have much margin for error moving forward.

It was an eventful first period. Colorado opened the scoring 5:41 into the game thanks to a deflection goal from the newly acquired Jack Drury. Not even a minute later superstar defenseman Cale Makar made it 2-0 as he buried a quick shot off a Martin Necas drop pass.

Fortunately for the Rangers, their fourth line responded just 44 seconds later as Sam Carrick cut the deficit in half. They continued that momentum as Alexis Lafreniere fed Vincent Trocheck for a two-on-one tally to tie the game at two-two. As the game began to settle down Adam Fox took a holding penalty, which Cale Makar capitalized on for his second goal of the afternoon.

The goaltenders were much better in the middle frame, though things opened up again late in the period. The score remained the same until Juuso Parsinnen took advantage of an Artemi Panarin turnover with 3:59 left in the period.

The Blueshirts then bounced back with a goal of their own as Will Borgen poked in a rebound with 1:55 remaining in the second. That score stood and Colorado took a 4-3 lead heading into the final period of play. New York put its best foot forward in the third period outshooting the Avalanche 14-3. They were finally rewarded for their play with an Artemi Panarin goal, tying the game at four with under five minutes left.

The Rangers then had a late-game power play but couldn't convert. To make matters worse, Will Borgen turned the puck over as Cale Makar jumped out of the penalty box and found Arturri Lehkonen who buried the game-winner with just 15 seconds left in regulation. The game ended in a 5-4 gut-wrenching loss for the Rangers.

NHL: Cale Makar celebrates goal against Rangers - Source: Imagn

The New York Rangers will conclude a four-game homestand on Tuesday night as they host their division-rival Carolina Hurricanes. The puck drops at 7 p.m. EST at Madison Square Garden.

3 least impressive players from the New York Rangers 5-4 loss to the Colorado Avalanche

#1. Mika Zibanejad

It was another disappointing game for Mika Zibanejad. In 18:01 of ice time, he went pointless, with just one shot on goal in those minutes. He also struggled mightily on a very important power play with the game tied 4-4 late in the third.

As the New York Rangers' number one center, Zibanejad needs to step up his game on a much more consistent basis for the rest of the season.

#2. K'Andre Miller

K'Andre Miller has had a tough season. The 25-year-old's production has dropped significantly in his fifth NHL season.

Unfortunately for Miller and the New York Rangers, it was more of the same on Sunday. Miller had zero points and had a -1 rating in 23:11 minutes of action

#3. Igor Shesterkin

The all-world netminder has been great since returning from injury, but he wasn't at his best on Sunday. Shesterkin allowed five goals on just 21 shots, dropping his record to 17-16-2 on the season.

The 29-year-old had allowed three goals or fewer in seven consecutive games before Sunday, so it's safe to say that his performance was probably just a blip in the radar.