NEW YORK >> Henrik Lundqvist made a season-high 43 saves and the New York Rangers got goals from three different scorers in a 4-1 victory to send the visiting Ducks to their third straight defeat Tuesday night.
All three losses for the Ducks (28-17-10) have come at the start of their six-game road trip that continues on to Buffalo and finishes with games at Washington and Minnesota. Jakob Silfverberg got their only goal in the second period as Lundqvist often starred on this night at Madison Square Garden.
Michael Grabner scored twice in the third period while Oscar Lindberg and Mats Zuccarello got pucks past Ducks goalie John Gibson, who made 16 saves but kept his team close with a few highlight-reel stops. Rangers coach Alain Vigneault also got his 600th victory, becoming the second-fastest to that mark.
The Ducks had a season-high 44 shots on goal and had a decisive edge in attempts and possession but couldn’t solve Lundqvist. They came out with tons of energy and hemmed the Rangers in their own zone with the first few shifts. The start was just what Ducks coach Randy Carlyle wanted.
And then when the Ducks had to defend for the first time, they failed. Pavel Buchnevich, a fourth-liner with some skill, flipped a no-look backhand pass to an open Lindberg at the net as Ducks defenseman Kevin Bieksa failed to get a stick on it.
Lindberg quickly banged in his second goal of the season past Gibson to put the Rangers up on their very first shot of the game. It was the part-time forward’s first since Jan. 7.
Zuccarello gave New York a 2-0 edge early in the second when he jumped on a puck and hammered it by a sprawling Gibson. Silfverberg halved the deficit as he put in Andrew Cogliano’s pass after the winger forced a turnover by Rangers defenseman Brady Skjei.
Gibson robbed Grabner with a glove save on a breakaway and then got his blocker on a lunging stop to foil Jimmy Vesey but the Ducks couldn’t take advantage of their goalie keeping them close. The Ducks couldn’t crack Lundqvist during a four-minute high-sticking penalty to Skjei in the second.
In the third, Grabner got his as he took a cross-ice pass from J.T. Miller and beat Gibson for a 3-1 lead. The winger continued his comeback season by scoring into an empty net for his team-leading 25th. He had only nine goals in 80 games with Toronto last season.
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