Yandle proves to Rangers why he's worth it

NEW YORK -- It took him until his 10th game, but defenseman Keith Yandle showed the New York Rangers on Sunday why he was worth the steep price general manager Glen Sather paid to acquire him and what he can do for a Stanley Cup contending team this spring.

Yandle came to the Rangers in a trade from the Arizona Coyotes on March 1 for top prospect Anthony Duclair, a first-round draft pick in 2016, a second-round draft pick this year, and defenseman John Moore.

He came to New York for games like he played Sunday, when Yandle's first pass and focus on the details of his offensive game were on point in a 7-2 win against the Anaheim Ducks at Madison Square Garden.

Yandle finished the game with three assists after scoring one goal in his first nine games as a Ranger.

Moreover, his performance against Anaheim came approximately 24 hours after he finished what could have been his worst game in his short time as a Ranger. Yandle was turnover prone and admittedly thinking too far ahead of himself in New York's 3-2 shootout win against the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday.

The Rangers play the Los Angeles Kings at the Garden on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET, NBCSN).

"I think I was just trying to be quick with it and not hold on to it for too long," Yandle said of his performance Sunday. "Last game in Carolina I was trying to make the second play before making the first one. For me it was getting it and getting it into the other guys' hands."

Yandle did that on Derek Stepan's power-play goal in the first period, when he one-timed a pass from the right point to set up Stepan for a slap shot that got past goalie Frederik Andersen with the help of a screening Chris Kreider.

He also did it on Carl Hagelin's first-period goal. The Ducks turned the puck over in the neutral zone and Yandle, who was first to it, quickly sent a hard, cross-ice, tape-to-tape pass to Kevin Hayes to start the play that led to the goal.

Yandle picked up his third assist on J.T. Miller's goal in the second period. Again, he got to the puck first and moved it quickly and with authority. He sent a hard, blue line to blue line pass onto the tape of Mats Zuccarello's stick. Zuccarello then sprung Miller for the goal off the rush.

"What I've seen from him is what everybody has seen ... he's an offensive, puck-moving defenseman that's real good on the power play," Rangers coach Alain Vigneault said. "We've asked him, and [Arizona coach Dave] Tippett asked him the same thing, make sure you play hard at both ends of the rink. He's doing that for us. [Sunday] he got on the scoresheet. As we move forward here he's only going to get more comfortable with this group and he's only going to play better."

Yandle said getting comfortable with his new teammates has been a work-in-progress, as is usually the case when a player joins a contending team shortly before the NHL Trade Deadline and is expected to play a significant role after leaving a team in distress, such as the Coyotes.

"It's one of those things you just want to come in and help the team win and not take the groove out of anything," Yandle said. "You want to find your role and stay with it. I think learning from guys and learning to play with guys it's been a little bit of a change, obviously, but I think it's coming together."

Yandle said he's felt better in the past week, even if it hadn't shown in his play until Sunday. His performance against the Ducks was a culmination of getting adjusted to new teammates, figuring out their tendencies and simply just playing better.

By no means has Yandle figured everything out, but his first pass and focus on the details of his offensive game on Sunday were exactly what the Rangers thought they were getting when they acquired him. If there is more of the same from Yandle in the weeks, perhaps even months ahead, there will be no arguing over the price the Rangers paid to get him.

Follow Dan Rosen on Twitter at: @drosennhl