Preview: Ducks Resume Homestand, Host Rangers on Friday Night at Honda Center

The Ducks continue the season's final extended homestand tonight, hosting the New York Rangers at Honda Center.

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Anaheim tonight looks to build on one of its best performances of the season, a 6-2 beating of the Boston Bruins two nights ago. The Ducks held the Bruins to just nine shots in the first two periods and took full control with a pair of goals in the dying minutes of the middle frame.

"It was a good game for us overall," said winger Alex Killorn, who recorded his 300th career NHL assist in the win. "A ton of shots and a ton of opportunities. I really liked the way we played. Our defense was getting up the ice. We had a ton of possession and we got rewarded."

"We talked after the game on Sunday about the third period that we played against Carolina, because I thought it was one of our better periods of the year," head coach Greg Cronin added. "[But] we didn’t start fast. I thought tonight we did start fast and we challenged them to come out and initiate the pace of the game. We did a really good job of that...We wanted to try to create a difficult environment right [for Boston] from the beginning and I thought we were able to do that for the better part of the game."

Anaheim's offense Wednesday was again driven by the club's young players, with six of the seven point-scorers aged 24-or-younger.

"It's a great opportunity for them to have a great end of the season but also to build momentum going into next season as well," Killorn said. "They're doing a good job. We've got a lot of guys who are young, and it's nice to see them step up."

With the win, the Ducks improved to 31-32-8 on the season, now 15 points back of a playoff position with 11 games still to play.

Anaheim now turns its attention to a Rangers team fighting for the Eastern Conference's final playoff bid while scuffling to a 3-6-1 mark over its last 10 games - most recently a 3-1 defeat Tuesday night in LA.

“It gets tiring because I feel like over the last few weeks we’ve been playing some good hockey and still losing,” New York center Mika Zibanejad told NHL.com's Dan Greenspan. “We find a way to lose.”

Tonight's game also marks the first meeting between the Ducks and Rangers since a December trade that sent veteran defenseman and former New York captain Jacob Trouba to Anaheim. Trouba played 364 games as a Ranger across six seasons, earning the 2024 Mark Messier Leadership Award and helping the club to the 2022 and 2024 Eastern Conference Finals.

Trouba is the only Ducks defenseman to appear in each of the club's 46 games since the trade, collecting 1-7=8 points and trailing only Jackson LaCombe in average ice-time. Anaheim own a 21-20-5 mark this season with Trouba in the lineup.

Before the deal, Trouba and his old mates held off the Ducks for a 2-1 victory at Madison Square Garden earlier this season, in a game that stayed scoreless until the third period. Will Cuylle and Ryan Lindgren, the latter since traded to the Colorado Avalanche, scored for the Rangers that night, while former Kings netminder Jonathan Quick made 32 saves.

The Rangers (34-32-6, 74 points) sit fifth in the Metropolitan Division, one point back of a Wild Card position.