Rangers vs. Ducks: Rangers Close Out Road Trip With Yet Another Shootout Win
The New York Rangers closed out their California road trip with yet another shootout victory as they defeated the Anaheim Ducks by a final score of 3-2. Despite another blown lead in the final minute of play, the Rangers were able to clean up in the shootout and head back to New York with two more points in hand. Here is tonight’s goal breakdown.
1-0 Rangers
Kevin Hayes (3) - Assists: Brett Howden (5) & Filip Chytil (3)
After coming up empty in the first period, the Rangers finally were able to break the scoreless tie on the power play. Filip Chytil created the entire sequence with a beautiful centering feed out to Brett Howden, who unfortunately whiffed on the initial scoring chance. Kevin Hayes wound up being right behind Howden and immediately rifled the shot past John Gibson to make it 1-0 Rangers.
1-1 Tie
Jakob Silfverberg (4) - Assists: Rickard Rakell (7) & Ryan Getzlaf (7)
The Ducks had their own opportunity on the power play, and Jakob Silfverberg evened up the score at the 12:31 mark of the second period. Alexandar Georgiev made an excellent save on the first chance by Rickard Rakell, but wasn’t able to react to the rebound that landed right in the blue paint.
2-1 Rangers
Brett Howden (3) - Assists: Jimmy Vesey (1) & Marc Staal (2)
After just barely missing out on the Rangers first goal, Brett Howden finally got his redemption about two minutes following the Ducks tally. Jimmy Vesey made a ridiculous tap pass over to Howden off of Marc Staal’s point shot, and put the puck right on Howden’s tape. Howden made no mistake and tapped the puck into the empty net after gaining a step on the defender that was covering him.
2-2 Tie
Rickard Rakell (3) - Assists: Ryan Getzlaf (8) & Cam Fowler (6)
This seems to be becoming an alarming trend for the Rangers as they blew yet another one goal lead with under a minute remaining in regulation. Granted, it came off of a beautiful passing play between Ryan Getzlaf and Rickard Rakell, but the Rangers definitely need to clean that up moving forward. Georgiev didn’t stand much of a chance once the pass made it across the slot, and Rakell sent this game to overtime.
3-2 Rangers - Shootout
Despite numerous scoring chances at both ends, neither team was able to find the game winning goal, which meant this game was to be decided in the shootout. The Rangers were able to take home the win yet again in the shootout with both Mats Zuccarello and Mika Zibanejad scoring in the extra frame.
Following two straight shootout wins, the Rangers will head back to New York for a meeting with the Buffalo Sabres on Sunday evening.