Kreider scores two goals, Rangers ease past Ducks

NEW YORK -- Chris Kreider scored two goals, and the New York Rangers won for the first time in four games, defeating the Anaheim Ducks 5-1 at Madison Square Garden on Sunday.

"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]," said Kreider, who has three goals and one assist during a three-game point streak.
***[WATCH: [All Ducks vs. Rangers highlights]*
Mika Zibanejad had a goal and an assist to bring his point streak to five games (five goals, four assists), and Artemi Panarin had an assist for New York to extend his point streak to seven games (seven goals, four assists).
Henrik Lundqvist made 19 saves in his third start in the past nine games. Alexandar Georgiev had started six of the previous eight.
The Rangers (17-14-4), who lost their previous two games in regulation, including 6-3 to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Friday, outshot the Ducks 41-20.
"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," New York coach David Quinn said. "I really liked how we managed the games as the game evolved."
The Ducks (15-18-4) finished 1-3-0 on their four-game road trip. They played without forwards Ryan Getzlaf (flu), Jakob Silfverberg (flu) and Rickard Rakell (upper body). Getzlaf missed his second straight game.
Ryan Miller made 36 saves in his second appearance in eight games since Dec. 8. John Gibson started six of Anaheim's previous seven games, including in a 6-5 shootout win at the New York Islanders on Saturday.
"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 gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead at 7:14 of the first period, scoring with a backhand from the right circle after getting the puck in stride in the neutral zone and moving around Adam Henrique to get into the circle.

"That was a sick move," Lundqvist said. "He's skilled. He's so skilled."
Brett Howden quickly made it 2-0 at 8:45, when he came off the bench and went directly toward the net to score off the rebound of Tony DeAngelo's shot.
Sam Steel answered 1:13 later to make it 2-1 at 9:58, but Kreider eluded a backcheck from Josh Manson to score on a breakaway at 12:16 to give the Rangers a 3-1 lead.

Kreider scored again at 16:09 of the second period, a redirection from in front of the net to extend the Rangers lead to 4-1. Zibanejad's third shorthanded goal of the season at 1:16 of the third period made it 5-1.
"Right off the start, a couple of those goals we weren't in great position," Ducks defenseman Michael Del Zotto said. "We pretty much gifted them, realistically if you look at it. We kind of shot ourselves in the foot, every goal we seemed to gift them."
The Rangers have seven shorthanded goals this season, tied with the Ottawa Senators and Carolina Hurricanes for the NHL lead. Zibanejad's three are tied with Senators forward Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Hurricanes forward Sebastian Aho for the League lead.
"He's got great instincts and he senses when there is an opportunity to strike from the penalty kill standpoint," Quinn said of Zibanejad.

They said it

"Disappointing [road trip]. 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." -- Ducks coach Dallas Eakins
"It was not a lot [of work], but it's nice. I haven't seen a lot of these games where there's a few moments where you have to come up with a couple of big saves and that will be enough. Most nights it's more than that, so I'll take it. It's nice to feel solid." -- Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist

Need to know

Rangers rookie forward Kaapo Kakko didn't play because of a lower-body injury. He's considered day to day. … The Rangers and Ducks combined for 19 penalties totaling 60 minutes, including 10-minute misconducts for Erik Gudbranson and Brendan Lemieux. They also combined to go 0-for-9 on the power play (0-for-4 Ducks, 0-for-5 Rangers). … Eakins said he's hopeful Rakell's injury won't keep him out long term. ... The Rangers recalled forward Phillip Di Giuseppe from Hartford of the American Hockey League.

What's next

Ducks:Host the Vegas Golden Knights on Friday (10 p.m. ET; PRIME, ATTSN-RM, NHL.TV)
Rangers:At the Philadelphia Flyers on Monday (7 p.m. ET; NBCSN, NBCSP, MSG2, NHL.TV)