Ryan McDonagh powers Rangers past Red Wings

DETROIT -- Ryan McDonagh scored two goals to help the New York Rangers to a 4-1 win against the Detroit Red Wings at Joe Louis Arena on Sunday.
Antti Raanta made 23 saves in his first start since the Rangers announced Saturday that Henrik Lundqvist would miss 2-3 weeks because of a lower-body injury. Raanta has won four of his past five starts.

"I can't go out there and think about how many more games I'm going to be playing in the next few weeks," Raanta said. "I just wanted to play a good game today. Now I can worry about my next game."
WATCH: All Rangers vs. Red Wings highlights
Kevin Hayes had a goal and an assist for New York (44-23-2), which has won six of its past seven road games and is 25-9-0 away from Madison Square Garden this season.
"It is a credit to this team that we are able to play the same way in any building," Rangers coach Alain Vigneault said.

Frans Nielsen scored and Petr Mrazek made 27 saves for Detroit (26-30-11), which is 1-4-1 in its past six games.
"I thought we matched up with them pretty well, but we made some mistakes and they got momentum from them," Red Wings captain Henrik Zetterberg said.
McDonagh gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead at 19:33 of the first period with a shorthanded goal. With four Red Wings trapped below the goal line, the Rangers broke down the ice and McDonagh tipped in Hayes' pass for his fourth goal.

Nielsen made it 1-1 with a power-play goal at 5:35 of the second period when he one-timed Gustav Nyquist's feed past Raanta for his 14th of the season.
McDonagh's second goal of the game gave New York a 2-1 lead at 16:50 of the second when he knocked Marc Staal's rebound past Mrazek.
Hayes made it 3-1 with his 17th of the season 37 seconds later, putting J.T. Miller's pass into an open net.
"I thought it was an even game, and then we shot ourselves in the foot twice in 37 seconds," Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said. "We've got to get to the point where we aren't beating ourselves."
Derek Stepan gave New York a 4-1 lead with a power-play goal at 16:01 of the third, his first goal since Jan. 17, a span of 24 games.
"I can't tell you how good that felt," he said. "I've never had a streak like this in my career, but the last four or five games, it really started to come around."

#

Goal of the game

With the Rangers leading 2-1 late in the second period, Miller fired a perfect pass across the edge of crease, giving Hayes an open look with Mrazek trying to lunge across the net.

#

Save of the game

Andreas Athanasiou went between his legs to try to fool Raanta on a carom off the back boards in the third period, but the Rangers goalie calmly made the point-blank save to preserve New York's 3-1 lead.

#

Highlight of the game

Zetterberg sent a quick pass to Justin Abdelkader at the left side of the net. Abdelkader tapped it to Nyquist, who slid it across the slot to Nielsen for Detroit's only goal.

#

Unsung performance of the game

Rangers defenseman Brendan Smith, facing the Red Wings for the first time since being traded to New York on Feb. 28, played 22 minutes and had two shots on goal, two blocked shots and two hits. Smith, who played his first 291 NHL games with Detroit, also played on New York's top penalty-kill unit.

They said it

"It was big for [Stepan] to finally get one. He had 10 shots in our last game, and I wasn't sure what might happen if he didn't get one to go in." -- Rangers coach Alain Vigneault on Derek Stepan
"We learned a lesson in [a 4-3 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday], and it cost us two points. Today, we knew we had to play for 60 minutes." -- Rangers captain Ryan McDonagh
"It is about details. Most of the game, we played well, but then we'd have sequences where we'd turn the puck over and it would cost us." -- Red Wings defenseman Xavier Ouellet

#

Need to know

Rangers defensemen have 29 points (10 goals, 19 assists) in the past 15 games. … The Red Wings earned the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference last season with 93 points. To match that total, they have to win their final 15 games.

#

What's next

Rangers: Host the Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday; (7 p.m. ET; MSG, SUN, TVA Sports,
NHL.TV
)
Red Wings: Visit the Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday (9:30 p.m. ET; ALT, FS-D+,
NHL.TV
)