The Rangers won their third in a row Tuesday with a 4-1 win over the Ducks. Anaheim controlled play in the first but Henrik Lundqvist was up to the task with 16 saves in the period. The Ducks did launch 40 shots overall, with several Grade-A chances, but Hank was tremendous, stopping all but one shot, which beat him aided by a Brady Skjei screen.
Game recap:
New York sort of played rope-a-dope in the first, taking blow after blow before tallying late to grab a 1-0 lead. A good outlet pass off the boards found David Desharnais, who more than proved he should be in the lineup over a scratched Boo Nieves, so credit to coach Alain Vigneault for the move. Desharnais made quick eye contact with Paul Carey, a pretty good, low-cost signing this off-season that has carved out a key role on the fourth line, steaming past Ryan Getzlaf down the slot and put a cross-ice, backhand pass over the d-man's stick to Carey, who tipped it past John Gibson with 46 seconds remaining in the first period,
In the first minute of the second, the lead became 2-0. A great cycle play down the left boards by Jimmy Vesey found Nick Holden around the net. Holden left it for Mats Zuccarello, who skated up to the blue line, turned and found Kevin Hayes coming in the zone wide-open on the left slot. Hayes put a rising bullet past Gibson up-under the cross bar. Hayes had replaced J.T. Miller, who went to the bench after a collision at the offensive blue line. As Larry Brooks pointed out, Hayes seems to be balancing his pass-first instincts by shooting more lately while still scoring despite his defensive responsibilities. Hayes has a 58 percent defensive-zone start ratio, as he’s assumed the role of a checking center, but he is actually getting the puck on net more often this season, averaging two shots per game as opposed to the 1.6 average he recorded through his first three seasons. The end result has been a pair of goals his last three games, his tally yesterday coming on five shots, giving Hayes eight markers on the season.
Later in the period, Carey added his second. Lundqvist cleared the puck up the left side of the ice to Vesey in the neutral zone. Vesey sent it cross-ice to the far side to Desharnais, who dished it to Carey coming down the slot. Carey had a ton of room, as Marc Staal went to the right side of the net, drawing the d-man, and his shot beat Gibson for a 3-0 lead.
An Ondrej Kase goal with 5:17 to go in the third period spoiled Lundqvist’s shutout bid. but New York responded quickly, Less than two minutes later, Grabner and Jesper Fast led a two-on-one odd man rush up the ice with Grabner beating Gibson after the first save. Initially, it looked like Rickard Rakell made a huge save, but after video review and a delayed ruling (see below) Grabner was awarded his team-leading 17th goal of the year and 11th in the third period for the 4-1 final score.
Wes McCauley makes the Rangers fans wait pic.twitter.com/OQF8extikK
— Marina Molnar (@mkmolnar) December 20, 2017
Lundqvist was a monster in the first period, robbing Rakell on a breakaway and turning away several difficult shots. In his last 13 games Hank has a 2.03 goals against average and .940 save percentage. To stretch those numbers out even further, Lundqvist is 14-4 with a 2.26 GAA and .931 SV% since the beginning of November. If there was a negative, as Brooks noted, the Rangers allowed 40 shots in this one, the fourth time in the past eight games they have surrendered that many. Indeed, the Blueshirts have yielded 35 or more in seven of their last eight contests for an average of 37 against per game. Lundqvist and Ondrej Pavelec have allowed a sum of only nine goals through this stretch (.936 save percentage). New York can say that many of the shots came from the outside and five men were back, which was the case a lot. But, Lundqvist and Pavelec still have had to be sharp and faced many high-danger chances in that stretch.
Mika Zibanejad was fine in his first game back after missing nine contests due to a concussion. He admitted to some rust, which isn't surprising. Zib and the Rangers get right back at it Thursday against the Devils and then Saturday versus the Maple Leafs. Following three days off for Xmas, New York faces the Capitals on the 27th and Red Wings on the 29th before the Winter Classic against Buffalo on New Year's Day.
The other good news is that Tuesday was another perfect night on the penalty-kill (two-for-two). They've successfully killed off 61 of the last 69 power-play opportunities against them. That mark has moved the team up in the league ratings to fourth in the league.
After a 3-7-2 start, the Blueshirts have won 10 of 14, 16 of 22 and 18 of 26. Overall, they’ve secured at least a point in 21 of their last 28 games (18-7-3). For the year, New York is now 19-12-3 for the year, third in the division, two points behind New Jersey, who has a game in hand, and four behind Washington with the Rangers have a game in hand. In addition, the team is now fifth in the conference.