Ryan's shootout goal lifts Ducks past Rangers

STOCKHOLM -- After leaving Helsinki with nothing but a bitter taste in their mouths, the Anaheim Ducks can head home feeling halfway decent about their European experience.

Bobby Ryan scored in the fourth round of the shootout and Jonas Hiller was perfect against the four shooters he faced Saturday to lift the Ducks to a 2-1 win against the New York Rangers, who picked up a point in each of their games in Europe, but did not get a victory.

Anaheim, which lost to Buffalo on Friday, at least can feel relieved about getting a split, especially after blowing a 1-0 lead with just 2:15 remaining when Brad Richards scored his first goal as a Ranger.

"The schedule was tough because we arrived at the hotel at 3:30 in the morning, but that's what the NHL is all about," Ducks right wing Teemu Selanne said. "The good thing is that we won the game."

Henrik Lundqvist, who was brilliant through 65 minutes with 27 saves, stopped Corey Perry, Ryan Getzlaf and Selanne in the first three rounds of the shootout, but Ryan beat him with a low shot that surprised him.

"It wasn't the way it was drawn up, but I'll take it," Ryan said. "I had one in the second period that I'd really like to have back. I think Henrik and I will trade even today. I got the best of him on a lucky one."

Ryan said he was looking to go low glove, but he never lifted the puck. Lundqvist was thinking he was going high, and got his left skate caught on the ice, preventing him from recovering to stop the low sliding shot.

"If I had hit my mark I would have missed because he was already there," Ryan said. "I'm going to label it a fortunate miss."

Hiller was perfect against Erik Christensen, Brad Richards, Mats Zuccarello and Artem Anisimov to get the win for the Ducks.

"Obviously we wanted the wins and the four points coming out of here, but at the same time we've got to take the positives out of it," Rangers captain Ryan Callahan said. We gotta realize that especially tonight we came back, we didn't let our guard down. We sustained some pressure in the third and we earned that point. Now we got back home, we've got a week to regroup, go over some things and get back to work."

Richards' first goal as a Ranger couldn't have come as a better time. It at least helped the Rangers salvage a point for the second straight night.

Lubomir Visnovsky tried to get the puck out of the zone, but his weak attempt was stopped at the point by Ryan McDonagh, who found Richards hanging in the lower portion of the left circle.

Richards cut to the front of the net and with Visnovsky coming from behind him he roofed a shot from the high slot over Hiller's right shoulder to tie the game. It was just the 15th shot of the night for the Rangers and only their third in the third period.

"We needed a goal to get that point and have a chance to win the game," Richards said. "It was frustrating in the game with a lot of power plays and no goals, but it was good to get that chance."

The goal made Lundqvist's impressive night in his nation's capital matter. He made several saves that belong on "NHL On the Fly" to help the Rangers pick up the point.

Lundqvist robbed Ryan 3:58 into the second period by coming across his crease from right to left to stone. Ryan was trying to finish off a pretty passing sequence that started with Perry giving the puck to Getzlaf, and the Ducks captain finding the American winger in front of the net.

The Rangers' goalie made a similar cross-crease move to stop Brandon MacMillan on a shorthanded 2-on-1 rush with Getzlaf at 8:17 of the second. MacMillan won a foot race with Richards and after getting the puck from Getzlaf, turned it to his forehand but Lundqvist got to the right post in time to make the save.

Visnovsky had a point-blank wrist shot from the right circle during a Ducks' power play midway through the third period, but Lundqvist made himself big in the crease and kept the puck out of the net.

"He played great again and he played great last night," Callahan said. "You can't say enough about him. He's the reason we got two points here."

The Ducks grabbed a 1-0 lead 9:26 into the game when Cogliano scored off a tip-in from in front of the net.

Andrew Gordon set up Cogliano by wheeling a pass from the corner to the front of the net moments before Rangers defenseman Steve Eminger put a hit on him. Eminger, though, left Cogliano alone in front so he could go after Gordon. Derek Stepan, who was chasing the play, also went to Gordon instead of filling in for Eminger.

All Cogliano had to do was tip the puck past Lundqvist.

"I thought we were a much better defensive hockey team tonight than we were the other night in Helsinki," Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said. "We didn't have the poor start and we weren't playing catch up the whole night."


Follow Dan Rosen on Twitter: @drosennhl

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