Rangers Beat Ducks In Shooutout 2-1
NEW YORK (AP) Marian Gaborik made up for a frustrating night by scoring in the last round of a shootout to give the New York Rangers a 2-1 win over the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday night.
Gaborik gave goalie Jonas Hiller a head fake, then a little shimmy before tucking the puck past him. That left it up to New York's Henrik Lundqvist, who stopped Bobby Ryan and then pumped his fist as the crowd roared in approval.
Ryan, who beat New York in a shootout last month in Stockholm, scored the tying goal late in the second period for Anaheim after Jeff Woywitka put New York up with his first Rangers goal, late in the first.
Gaborik assisted on that goal, but otherwise had nothing to show despite two excellent power-play scoring chances.
The Rangers, who have earned points in six of eight games, had chances in overtime, perhaps none bigger than when defenseman Ryan McDonagh fired wide from the doorstep in the wild final minute. Hiller had made a strong glove save on Ruslan Fedotenko from in close.
Lundqvist made several key stops in the final 10 minutes of regulation, as the Ducks furiously hunted for a winning goal. Instead, they've lost seven of their last eight.
The Rangers didn't put nearly as much pressure on Hiller, who made most of his big saves early. The Ducks outshot New York 26-15 from the second period on after the Rangers had a 10-2 edge in the first.
Midway through the third, Ryan Callahan broke in all alone on Hiller on a short-handed breakaway, but the Ducks goalie stayed with him and stopped a soft wrist shot with his left pad.
After outplaying the Ducks for most of two periods, the Rangers started to fray. A period of ragged defending and a giveaway on a mishandled centering pass in the Ducks zone helped set up Ryan's tying goal at 18:18 of the second. He fired a dart over Lundqvist's shoulder on the Ducks' 12th shot.
About 90 seconds later, Michael Del Zotto went off for hooking, and fellow Rangers defenseman Dan Girardi was hit in the head by a puck with a second remaining before the intermission. But the Rangers remained in a tie.
Gaborik's second-period shot on the power play trickled past everyone, and the post, too. In the first, Hiller slid left and stopped him on a close-in attempt with his left pad.
The Rangers had more of the action in a mostly free-flowing first period that was scoreless until Woywitka was left alone for a slap shot that trickled past Hiller at 17:32. As soon as the puck was dropped following the goal, Anaheim's George Parros and New York's Andre Deveaux fought in front of the benches.
The Rangers failed to produce on a 4-on-3 power play less than a minute later. Hiller made a glove save on a slap shot, then later slid to his left as Gaborik sped past the goal mouth to prevent the Rangers from going up 2-0.
Three minutes into the game, Rangers fans chanted for Sean Avery, even though the forward was scratched from the lineup after he cleared re-entry waivers and was recalled by the Rangers from the Connecticut Whale of the AHL.
NOTES: Rangers F Wojtek Wolski left during the first period and didn't return because of a recurring groin injury that sidelined him earlier this season. ... Anaheim has one more stop on its seven-game road trip, a visit to Detroit before going back to California.
