In Anaheim Wednesday night, the New York Rangers kicked off a three-game California trip with a 4-1 win over the Ducks at the Honda Center.
Henrik Lundqvist stopped 24 shots on the night and needed to solid as the Ducks were buzzing most of the first 40 minutes of the game.
Rick Nash scored his 25th of the season in Anaheim – file photo by Lewis Bleiman
“I think it’s good for our confidence to know that we can play a strong game against the best teams in the League, Lunqvist said.”
The Rangers got goals from Derick Brassard, Rick Nash, Mats Zuccarello and Dominic Moore.
With the win, the Rangers are now 11-1-0 in their last 12.
“We’ve talked about it for the last couple of days,” Nash said. “We’ve been talking about challenging ourselves and kind of getting a good measuring stick of where we’re at. It’s a huge win for us.”
For Anaheim, it was a rare outcome that did not end with a one-goal differential.
“They’re a physical team,” Lundqvist said. “They’ve got a lot of big guys who cut in front of the net. They made it pretty tough to see the puck at times. But again, we’re played with a lot of poise and confidence right now and making a lot of smart moves out there. We showed some patience. This game, it’s a tight game. You can’t force anything. The way we responded after their goal, that’s impressive to see … it just killed their momentum.”
Ilya Bryzgalov, who was making his second start for the Ducks, took the loss on 26 saves and looked solid in net most of the night. The Rangers scored off two giveaways in the Ducks’ zone.
“I battled hard,” said Bryzgalov, who made his first home start for the Ducks since Game 2 of their 2007 Western Conference Quarterfinal Series. “Compared to the last game I played in Ottawa, it was much better.”
For New York, it was a rare win in Anaheim and Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau was impressed with the Blueshirts.
“Their speed is very good,” Boudreau said. “The structure of their game is very good. You can see when we made it 2-1, we put a push on for one shift and they sort of got re-acclimated and then they just grinded it down until they got that next goal. They’re going to be a tough team to beat.”
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