Not all losses are the same. Sometimes a team can lose a game, but if everyone knows that they played well, they can live with it.

That’s what happened to the Rangers on Saturday afternoon against the high-flying Avalanche at Madison Square Garden.

Colorado, the league’s top team, was looking to bounce back after suffering only its second regulation loss of the season Thursday against the Islanders and certainly presented the stiffest of challenges for the Blueshirts. But the Rangers entered having won two in a row and five of six and were playing some of their best hockey of the season. So if there was a good time for the Blueshirts to take on the challenge of facing the top team in the NHL, now was it.

And the Rangers stood up to Colorado, battling toe-to-toe all game, erasing a p

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