Rangers vs. Ducks: Rangers Make it Three in a Row with 4-1 Win Over Ducks
The New York Rangers made it three wins in a row this evening following a 4-1 defeat of the Anaheim Ducks at Madison Square Garden. Henrik Lundqvist had another strong outing in the crease and Paul Carey tallied his first career two-goal game for the Rangers.
Coming off of two big wins over the weekend, the New York Rangers were looking to have a quick start against the injury-riddled Ducks. It took some time, but the Rangers eventually converted at the 19:14 mark of the first period to take a 1-0 lead. David Desharnais, who remained in the lineup in place of Boo Nieves, found Paul Carey cutting to the far post and put the puck right on his tape.
Ryan Getzlaf failed to cover the front of the net on the play, and Carey tapped the puck over John Gibson to take the lead into the intermission. The Rangers would carry that late first period momentum over to the middle frame where they would make it a 3-0 game. Kevin Hayes picked up the Rangers’ second goal off of a perfect cross-ice feed from Mats Zuccarello and doubled up the Rangers lead.
Nearly 13 minutes later, Paul Carey delivered again for his second goal of the night on yet another primary assist from David Desharnais. The goal came as a result of an odd-man rush for the Rangers where Desharnais found Paul Carey trailing the play in the high slot. Carey was able to quickly snap the puck under Gibson’s right pad and gave the Rangers a commanding 3-0 lead.
After being held scoreless for the entire game, the Ducks finally broke Lundqvist’s shutout with under six minutes remaining in regulation. Ondrej Kase found some space after being setup by Ryan Getzlaf and beat Lundqvist through the legs to make it a 3-1 game in favor of the Rangers.
Under two minutes later, Michael Grabner tallied his 17th goal of the year after chipping the puck over Gibson in the crease. The play wound up going to review after the initial call of the ice was no-goal, with Rickard Rakell cleanly swatting the puck off of the goal line. After a rather lengthy review, the officials determined the puck crossed the goal line and the Rangers regained their three goal cushion at 16:37 of the third.
That Grabner goal would hold up as the final marker and the Rangers took two big points in the standings. With tonight’s victory, the Rangers have vaulted themselves into third place in the Metropolitan Division holding a two point cushion over the New York Islanders. The Rangers will have a scheduled off day tomorrow before returning to action on Thursday night against the New Jersey Devils.
