Oliver Bjorkstrand scored two goals as the New York Rangers defeated the Anaheim Ducks 5-2 on Monday at Madison Square Garden. New York built a five-goal cushion before Anaheim broke through in the final two minutes of play.
Sean Durzi opened the scoring for the Rangers just 1:18 into the first period with an even-strength snap shot set up by Pavel Dorofeyev and Tye Kartye. New York expanded the advantage in the second period when J.T. Miller tipped in a power-play goal at 4:38 off assists from Adam Fox and Alexis Lafreniere. Gabe Perreault widened the lead to 3-0 at 10:17 with a snap shot, assisted by Mika Zibanejad and Lafreniere.
Bjorkstrand added New York's fourth goal unassisted at 13:14 of the middle frame, snapping a shot past Anaheim goaltender Ville Husso. He struck again 3:26 into the third period with another snap shot, assisted by Taylor Raddysh and Braden Schneider, to make it 5-0. Anaheim avoided the shutout late in regulation when Nick Jensen scored his first goal of the season on a slap shot at 18:51, assisted by Alex Killorn and Frank Vatrano. A.J. Greer followed 36 seconds later at 19:27 with his first goal of the season, assisted by Pavel Mintyukov, to cap the scoring.
Dylan Garand stopped 29 of 31 shots to earn the victory for New York, while Husso made 25 saves on 30 shots in the loss. The Rangers converted one of four opportunities on the power play and killed off all three penalties they took against the Ducks.
The victory lifted New York to a 7-3-1 regular-season record. Anaheim fell to 4-4-0 on the year and remains winless in three consecutive games.
Anaheim plays next on Tuesday when it visits the New York Islanders. New York travels to visit the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday.
