Rangers get win over Ducks

In a near must-win game, the New York Rangers got two goals from Chris Kreider  on Sunday and defeated the Anaheim Ducks, 5-1.

Anaheim was in the back end of a pair of games in New York.  They beat the Islanders in a shootout on Saturday.

“We seemed to have a lot of energy and we were a little bit [ticked] off about what happened with Toronto, and I thought we came with a purpose tonight from the get-go,” Rangers coach David Quinn said. “I really liked how we managed the games as the game evolved.”

Henrik Lundqvist made 19 saves to get the win. Two of those saves were on Ducks breakaways and Lundqvist made solid pad saves on both.

“It’s a big win for us but we have to turn the page quick because we’ve got a four-point game tomorrow [at the Philadelphia Flyers],” Kreider said.

Sam Steel scored the only goal of the game for the Ducks.

“We tried to keep as many guys together as we could, but not the greatest time to have a back to back against a team that’s highly skilled,” Anaheim coach Dallas Eakins said. “It just goes to show you how good of players that the guys that were out are. I thought our guys did their best. I think we can play a lot better. I thought we could have made some better decisions, but that’s how the schedule lines up and we’re not going to make excuses here.”

Filip Chytil and Brett Howden scored 91 seconds apart in the fist period to stake the Rangers to a 2-0 lead.

Mika Zibanejad scored shorthanded early in the third period to put the game out of reach for the Ducks.

“He’s got great instincts and he senses when there is an opportunity to strike from the penalty kill standpoint,” Quinn said.

Neither time was productive on the power play with the Rangers scoreless in five attempts and the Ducks going 0-for-4 on their own chances with the one shortie.

[WATCH: All Ducks vs. Rangers highlights]

Ryan Miller made 36 saves in the loss.

“Disappointing [road trip],” Eakins said. “Everyone hates losing. I can understand this [loss], but the first couple of games on the trip were ones that we wanted to be better, so it is a disappointing trip for me.”