Jonathan Quick made 32 saves and Artemi Panarin extended his season opening points streak to eight games with an assist as the host New York Rangers bounced back from their first regulation loss of the season and hung on for a 2-1 victory over the Anaheim Ducks on Saturday night.
Ryan Lindgren and Will Cuylle scored in the third for the Rangers, who are 6-1-1 so far.
In his second start of the season, Quick earned his 395th career win and was particularly strong in the second period when he made 15 saves before the Rangers scored twice in the third.
Quick made a diving save on Robby Fabbri with about nine minutes left in the first then denied Jackson Lacombe on a wraparound try early in the second. He preserved the one-goal lead by denying Cam Fowler from close range and then denied Frank Vatrano with six seconds left.
After looking flat in Thursday’s 3-1 home loss to the Florida Panthers, the Rangers were stymied for most of the night by Anaheim goalie Lukas Dostal until Panarin set up Lindgren after making a nice defensive play.
As the Rangers attempted to maintain possession in their offensive zone, Panarin chipped the puck away from Trevor Zegras in the slot and headed behind the net as his teammates cycled the puck. He threaded a pass from behind the left side of the net and the puck caromed off Alexis Lafreniere’s stick to Lindgren, who sent a one-timer from the middle of the slot past former Ranger Ryan Strome and over Dostal’s stick.
Panarin kept his points streak going after being credited with an assist shortly after Thursday’s loss and has six goals and nine assists.
Will Cuylle scored what turned out to be the winning goal with 8:07 left and about three minutes after getting a goal disallowed because officials determined he was offside after Anaheim challenged.
Cuylle’s tap-in during a goalmouth scramble, when Dostal was caught out of position, became the game-winner when Olen Zellweger eluded New York’s Chris Kreider and Adam Fox and deflected a pass by Leo Carlsson past Quick with 7:22 left.
Dostal stopped 30 shots, including 18 in the opening period.
–Field Level Media