Hayes gets Rangers past Ducks on late shorthanded goal

NEW YORK -- Kevin Hayes scored shorthanded on a breakaway with 40 seconds remaining in the third period to lift the New York Rangers to a 3-1 come-from-behind win against the Anaheim Ducks at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday.

The Rangers (15-13-5) ended a three-game losing streak (0-1-2) and won for the third time in 11 games since Nov. 23 (3-5-3).
"We were in a little bit of a rut there," Hayes said. "Hopefully this win can kind of springboard us into some W's."
WATCH: [All Ducks vs. Rangers highlights]
Vladislav Namestnikov tied his NHL career high with three points, including the assist on Hayes' goal and his own goal at 9:52 of the third period to tie the game 1-1. Alexandar Georgiev made 14 saves for his first win since Nov. 21, and Filip Chytil scored an empty-net goal for New York.
Chytil was in the penalty box serving his minor for goalie interference when Hayes scored.
"It was a misplay by them," Hayes said. "(Ryan) Kesler kind of overhandled it a little bit and [Namestnikov] beat him to it, chipped it up the wall and I thought it was a good chance to cheat. Luckily, he got it out and I scored from there."

The Ducks (19-12-5), who won 4-2 at the Pittsburgh Penguins on Monday, had their winning streak end at four games and their road winning streak end at six games.
Pontus Aberg scored his 11th goal of the season, and Chad Johnson made 21 saves in his first game with Anaheim since being claimed off waivers from the St. Louis Blues on Dec. 11. Johnson had to wear his Blues mask because his new Ducks mask hadn't arrived.
"He did what he was supposed to do," Kesler said of Johnson. "He gave us a chance to win. We just didn't keep our end of the bargain."

The Rangers outscored the Ducks 3-0 and outshot them 14-1 in the third period. New York had no goals and 10 shots through the first 40 minutes.
"We stopped playing in the third, obviously," Anaheim coach Randy Carlyle said. "They came with a push and we got ourselves down to where we were receiving the game. We get kind of a break to get a power play and then they score a goal. We set something up and didn't execute it. Next thing you know the puck is in our net. We didn't execute to the level we needed to be to have success for 60 minutes."
Aberg gave Anaheim a 1-0 lead at 14:09 of the second period. New York had scored the first goal in its previous five games but won one of them, including losing after taking 3-0 leads against the Winnipeg Jets and Arizona Coyotes.
"Listen, we haven't felt great about ourselves for a while and it was duly noted that we've been in a little bit of a spiral here, have blown some leads, played some good hockey but not good enough and found ways to lose," Rangers coach David Quinn said. "But tonight was a feel-good moment. … To be able to overcome the first two periods and play with the purpose and the pace that we did with a little bit of an edge to our game is a testament to our guys and the mental aspect of this game."

Namestnikov made it 1-1, one-timing a pass from Brett Howden off the rush.
On the go-ahead goal, Namestnikov sprung Hayes for a breakaway during a delayed penalty on the Ducks. Hayes' shot trickled through Johnson's legs to make it 2-1.
Chytil made it 3-1 with 19 seconds remaining.

They said it

"Looked like we had some tired legs and they controlled most of the play [in the third period]. We weren't really generating much offensively and when you start receiving the game you're going to give up chances, and they capitalized on a couple of them." -- Ducks center Ryan Kesler
"You've got to win a period, and I thought right from the start of the third we played with a lot more life. I understand they played [Monday] night, but we've played four or five nights back-to-back where the other team was waiting too. That's just this league. I don't know from their end of it if they thought they were a little bit flatter, they might have been, but I just thought we certainly did things with a lot more purpose and a lot more pace in the third period." -- Rangers coach David Quinn

Need to know

The Rangers swept the season series against the Ducks, having won 3-2 in a shootout at Honda Center on Nov. 1. … Hayes has 10 points (four goals, six assists) during a five-game point streak.

What's next

Ducks: At the Boston Bruins on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; SN360, SNE, SNP, NESN, PRIME, NHL.TV)
Rangers: At the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; NHLN, CBC, SN, SN1, MSG, NHL.TV)