NEW YORK — Mika Zibanejad and Artemi Panarin each had four points, and the New York Rangers defeated the Anaheim Ducks 6-4 at Madison Square Garden on Monday.
Zibanejad, who had two goals and two assists, has four goals as a team best. Panarin, who has one goal and three assists, leads New York with 10 points (two goals, eight assists) in the first four games of a season.
Adam Fox had three templates, and Vincent Trocheck had a goal and an assist for New York (3-1-0) which was 3-4 on the power play. Igor Shesterkin Made 18 saves.
“I think we’ve seen over the past few years that special teams in the playoffs and late in the season are one of the biggest factors for teams that win a Stanley Cup, teams that win,” Trocheck said. “If we can continue the success on the power play, refine our penalty shootout and refine our defensive play, I think we’re in the right place.”
Video: ANA@NYR: Zibanejad hammers home one-timer for PPG
Trevor Zegras scored, and Paul Regenda and Troy Terry Each had two assists for Anaheim (1-2-0), who suffered a 7-1 loss at the New York Islanders on Saturday and have conceded 17 goals in their first three games.
John Gibson allowed five goals on 34 shots before being drawn after the second period. Anton Stolarz made eight saves in relief.
Ducks coach Dallas Eakins said Gibson was “marred” by a slap shot from Zibanejad in the second half, which played a role in him not returning in the third half from a 5-2 deficit.
“He had something going on with his body and with the score where it was, he didn’t think it was a really smart move to put it back in there,” Eakins said.
Video: ANA@NYR: Zegras shoots one in to tie it in the 2nd
New York took a 2-0 lead in the first period through powerplay goals. Trocheck scored a backdoor after a pass from Zibanejad at 7:34, and Zibanejad beat Ducks forward Max Jones to the bottom of the right faceoff circle and scored from Trocheck at 1:10 p.m.
“We win back a lot of pucks and then it usually comes down to the power play,” said Zibanejad. “And I think we have a pretty good group, two groups, to be able to do those games when they’re there.”
Frank Vatrano made it 2-1 at 15:48, and Zegras tied it 2-2 at 1:34 of the second.
“Their only power-play goal in the first game was a gift, absolutely misguided responsibility, and in the second half we gave them two gifts, I mean absolute gifts,” said Eakins. “So we give them three easy and lose with two. That’s disappointing because our game has improved in a number of areas and then it’s all destroyed by missed responsibilities.”
Kapo Kakko scored at 9:54, deflecting Zibanejad’s shot off Gibson’s block and Ducks defender John KlingerbergIce skate to 3:2.
Alexis Lafreniere scored his season opener at 5:39 p.m. with a one-timer from the slot-off to a pass Philip Chytil that went between Duck’s defense attorneys Kevin ShattenkirkLegs for a 4:2 lead.
Panarin scored with a wrist shot between the circle points to make it 5:2 (19:26). It happened seconds after Rangers intercepted Klingberg’s straight pass from the defending zone.
“You look at the teams that are champions in this league, whether Colorado, Tampa, St. Louis, they never won because they were good, they won because they work,” Eakins said. “They work and they are relentless with it. It doesn’t matter if they have the puck or not, they work. It’s part of our development process here and our growth process is when we don’t. If we don’t have the puck, we have to work harder.”
Video: ANA@NYR: Panarin rips one home from the high slot
Max Comtois hit on a one-timer from the right circle at 5:33 of the third for 5-3, but Shesterkin saved Zegras in a row with his left pad and Adam Henrique deflected the rebound with his glove eleven minutes from time to maintain the two-goal lead.
Zibanejad extended New York’s lead to 6-3 with his second power play goal after a one-timer from the left circle following a pass from Panarin at 11:42.
Derek Grant scored 16:14 to make it 6:4.
“We still have a few things to work on, but I like how we come together as a team,” Trocheck said. “I like the way we are gaining more and more chemistry with every game. Such things are extremely importantAnt.”
REMARKS: The Rangers gave a video tribute to the Ducks Center Ryan Strome during the first television break. Strome played 263 games for New York and had 195 points (71 goals, 124 assists) from 2018-2022 before signing a five-year contract with Anaheim on July 13 as a free agent. He had one shot on target and one blocked shot 19:05 Ice Time. … Rangers forward Sammy Blais had three shots on goal, six shot attempts and three hits in 1:34 in his first NHL game since November 14, 2021, when he sustained a season-ending knee injury. He missed the first three games of the season with an upper-body injury. … Vatrano played 22 games and recorded 13 points (eight goals, five assists) for New York last season after being acquired by the Florida Panthers on March 16. On July 13, he signed a three-year contract with the Ducks.
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