Chris Kreider scored twice, Jonathan Quick made 29 saves to continue his strong start with his new team and the host New York Rangers pulled away for a 5-1 victory over the skidding Anaheim Ducks on Friday night.
The Rangers bounced back nicely from Tuesday’s ugly’s 7-3 loss to Toronto thanks to Kreider, who scored their first and third goals and registered his third two-goal game this season. Kreider’s big night also gave him 281 career goals to move him past Adam Graves (280) for sole possession on the all-time for current and former Rangers.
Jimmy Vesey also scored, getting his fourth game-winner of the year with 8:15 remaining in the second period. He scored a day after taking a puck off the helmet during practice.
Mika Zibanejad added a late power-play goal and set up Kreider’s first tally. Adam Fox and Artemi Panarin collected two assists apiece and Adam Edstrom tallied in his NHL debut in the final minute.
Quick improved to 9-0-1 in his first season with the Rangers by making a pair of diving saves on Alex Killorn shortly after Vesey’s goal.
Brett Leason scored but Anaheim lost its fifth straight and saw its road losing streak reach seven games. The Ducks also dropped to 1-12-0 since Nov. 15.
Anaheim goalie Lukas Dostal allowed five goals on 39 shots.
Anaheim opened the scoring with 6 1/2 minutes left following a big hit by Brock McGinn on New York defenseman Ryan Lindgren.
McGinn crunched Lindgren along the left boards in the Anaheim offensive zone and defenseman Ilya Lyubushkin gained possession in the neutral zone. Lyubushkin spotted Leason cutting up the ice and the winger ripped a shot from between the circles in the high slot by Quick.
New York tied it with 2:54 remaining after Zibanejad chipped the puck from Anaheim defenseman Cam Fowler along the right boards in the Rangers’ offensive zone. Kreider got the puck, moved past Frank Vatrano and released a shot from the right circle by Dostal.
New York pulled ahead by scoring twice in a span of nearly five minutes as Vesey converted Fox’s cross-ice pass, and Kreider re-directed a pass from Panarin for his 100th career power-play goal. Zibanejad finished it off on a slap shot from the left circle with 4:34 left.
–Field Level Media
