Ducks defeat Rangers 4-1 in Kreider, Trouba return to MSG: Takeaways
More than video tributes and a warm reception from the fans, really all Chris Kreider and Jacob Trouba wanted Monday night in their return to Madison Square Garden was a victory against their former team. And they got just that, when the Anaheim Ducks skated past the New York Rangers 4-1.
The final score doesn’t do justice to how tight this game was. The Ducks scored three times in the third period to snap a 1-1 tie, including two goals in the final minute of play — one into an empty net and another after Igor Shesterkin returned to the ice.
Shesterkin was furious after the game, smashing his stick in the tunnel heading to the Rangers dressing room after he exited the ice. The Rangers goalie made 22 saves, but was bested by Anaheim’s Lukas Dostal, who stopped 26 of 27 shots and was the Second Star of the Game.
The first star wasn’t Kreider nor Trouba, but instead their 21-year-old teammate Cutter Gauthier, who scored his 17th and 18th goals of the season, including the game-winner early in the third period.
Jackson Lacombe and Pavel Mintyukov also scored for Anaheim, which ended a two-game skid. Matthew Robertson scored his second goal of the season for the Rangers (16-14-4), who couldn’t build off a rousing 5-4 overtime win Saturday against the Montreal Canadiens. New York is 1-2-2 in its past five games.
Through two periods, the Rangers were the superior team by any way you judge it. They were quicker to pucks, spent more time in the offensive zone then defending, and had an expected goal share of 63.24 percent, per Natural Stat Trick. They out-attempted the Ducks 50-37, out-shot them 22-18, and won 66 percent (21 of 32) of the face-offs.
But the score was even, 1-1, heading into the third period.
Dostal was outstanding for the Ducks, the main reason why the Rangers had just one goal. And that goal was a fluky one. Robertson’s awkward shot from inside the blue line hit the stick of Ducks forward Frank Vatrano in the slot and deflected high into the air. Vincent Trocheck chopped at the puck above Dostal’s shoulder, but missed. Instead the Ducks goalie knocked the puck back into his own net at 16:18 of the second period, with Robertson credited for the game-tying goal.
Anaheim opened the scoring 7:18 into the second period, when Lacombe scored their sixth short-handed goal of the season, tying the Los Angeles Kings for most in the NHL.
Trouba sprung Ducks teammate Ryan Poehling on a short-handed rush with a long bank pass off the boards. Poehling cut to the net and his shot was denied by Shesterkin, who also scrambled to save Lacombe’s rebound try. But the puck went off the skate of the back-checking Will Cuylle and slipped between Shesterkin’s pads to make it 1-0 Ducks.
Anaheim nearly carried a 2-1 lead into the second intermission but Mikael Granlund’s rising power-play shot hit the cross-bar at 17:33.
However, Gauthier scored off the rush 5:51 into the third period to put the Ducks back on top. His goal off a pretty cross-ice feed from rookie Bennett Senecke came just as Will Borgen exited the penalty box following a hooking minor.
The teams traded near misses shortly after Gauthier’s goal. Urho Vaakanainen, who was acquired by the Rangers from the Ducks in the Trouba trade a year ago, rang a shot off the post at 6:22. And then Vatrano, a former Rangers forward, kissed iron with a left-wing blast for the Ducks at 9:09.
The Ducks held the Rangers to five shots on goal in the third period and then pulled away in the final minute of regulation to earn their 20th victory of the season. With Shesterkin on the bench for a sixth attacker and 21.6 seconds on the clock, Gauthier scored into the empty net to make it 3-1. Then after Shesterkin returned to the ice, Mintyukov wired a shot over the left shoulder of the Rangers goalie at 19:57 to close out the scoring.
Key takeaways after Rangers lose 4-1 to Ducks
Welcome back
Kreider and Trouba shared a long hug before exiting the ice after the final buzzer. It’s a win each will remember and cherish. This was Kreider’s first-ever game against the Rangers, who selected him in then first round of the 2009 NHL Draft and traded him to the Ducks this past offseason. He’s third in Rangers history with 326 goals scored in the regular season, and their all-time leader with 48 playoff goals.
As expected, Kreider received an extended standing ovation from the Garden Faithful after a tribute displayed on the Garden videoboard during the first television timeout at 8:57 of the first period. He saluted the crowd, patted his heart several times, and then went back to work for his new team. Kreider didn’t land on the score sheet nor record a shot on goal in 18:24 TOI.
Trouba, the former Rangers captain, also received a video tribute and a less rousing ovation from the crowd. The rugged defenseman played a bigger role in the game than Kreider, logging 23:21 TOI, assisting on Lacombe’s goal, recording three shots on goal, three blocked shots, and two hits, and taking the game’s first penalty, tripping Alexis Lafreniere 5:14 into the first period.
Missing Mika
Mika Zibanejad didn’t get the chance to play against his former teammates, including his BFF Kreider. That’s because coach Mike Sullivan scratched Zibanejad after the alternate captain missed a team meeting.
There’s no doubt the Rangers missed Zibanejad, who’s tied for the team lead with 11 goals and sits third with 25 points. Without him, Sullivan moved Trocheck in between Artemi Panarin and Lafreniere, a comfortable former fit. And Miller centered Cuylle and Conor Sheary. Jonny Brodzinski drew into the lineup on the third line.
Though each line had a solid expected goal share, no forward scored Monday for the Rangers
“I’m not going to get into specifics on why we make decisions the way we made them,” Sullivan said postgame. “We believe strongly in a process that we’ve put in place here for our team. … Mika and I had a discussion, we made a decision, and we move on. He’s an important player for us. He’s a terrific player and he’s a terrific person.”
Five-forward failure
With or without Zibanejad, the five-forward grouping on the top power-play unit continues to fail miserably. It was 0-for-4 Monday and is now 0-for-15 in six games since deployed by Sullivan after power-play quarterback Adam Fox landed on LTIR.
The Rangers did score a pair of power-play goals against the Canadiens. But the second unit, with four forwards and one defenseman, scored one of those goals. And the other was a 4-on-3 power-play goal in overtime.
Against the Ducks, the Rangers had 22 seconds of a 5-on-3 in the second period shortly before Lacombe scored short-handed during a 4-on-5 kill. The Rangers had one great scoring chance, but Dostal made an outstanding glove save to rob Trocheck, and then the Ducks went the other way to score. That’s the second shorty allowed by the five-forward unit in the past three games.
If this were baseball, scratched defenseman Scott Morrow might be warming up in the bullpen for a crack at quarterbacking that top unit. That opportunity could come as soon as Tuesday, when the Rangers host the Vancouver Canucks.
Rempe returns
After missing 24 games and nearly two months with an upper-body injury, Matt Rempe returned to the Rangers lineup. The popular 6-foot-9 forward led the Rangers with five hits over 12 shifts and 9:01 TOI. Back on the fourth line, he, Sam Carrick, and Taylor Raddysh were very effective with an 81.50 expected goal share. However, they were on ice for Anaheim’s final goal in the dying seconds of regulation.
Rempe appeared to beg off a possible fight with Ross Johnston during the game. He explained afterward that he broke his thumb multiple times during a fight with Ryan Reaves of the San Jose Sharks on Oct. 23, and it’s not completely healed.
“I got to the penalty box … and I looked down at my thumb and I was like, ‘God, this thing is not right,'” Rempe shared postgame about his injury.
