Preview: Rangers Face Ducks in Road Trip Finale

ANAHEIM - The Rangers feel no need to sugarcoat it: They needed that one in San Jose. They needed the two points, and not least of all, they needed to feel good about their game again.
"It's very fair to say that, yes," David Quinn said after his team practiced in San Jose before departing for the road-trip finale against a reeling Ducks team in Anaheim on Thursday night. "I was just talking with Mika about this: After the Calgary game (two Sunday ago) - the Calgary loss was very demoralizing to us in a lot of ways because we felt like we did so many things right and really had a great opportunity to win that game, and not only did we lose, we lost 4-1. With the shot total we had, the chances we had, the quality chances we had, and we come away with a 4-1 loss. Guys were just demoralized, and I really believe that affected us over the last three games.
"I was real proud of the way we moved past that, proud of our effort, proud of our purpose - we gave ourselves a chance to win last night and we did. Obviously no one likes the way it ended in regulation but we're going to continue to grow. We got two points. We'll address the issue we had on the 6-on-5, but we got two points and we needed it."
Chris Kreider said after Tuesday's performance that "there is no reason we can't do that consistently." Kreider was a main factor in the Rangers earning the two points: He scored twice to give the Rangers leads in the third period, and now has a team-best six goals in the Rangers' first 12 games - a 41-goal pace.

So the challenge for the Rangers on Thursday night is to carry it forward: With their first road win of the season under their belt, and a chance to square their record on this four-game road trip, the Rangers will be out to bag their first back-to-back wins of 2018-19.
"The important thing now is we've got to string some wins together. They can't just be one-offs," said Kevin Shattenkirk. "The way we played last night there's a lot of good things there, a lot of good things that we need to carry into our game tomorrow. We're playing another really strong, physical team, and a team that can make us pay. So we've got to make sure we're ready for them tomorrow - we can't rest on this one."
Shattenkirk said that on Tuesday night he "kind of knew early on it was going to be a good game and a game that I needed to use to build my confidence up." He went on to set up Mats Zuccarello's goal that tied the game 1-1 in the first, then scored his second game-deciding shootout goal of the season to seal the win.
But he was one of a number of Rangers who raised their games in San Jose, and Quinn saw Shattenkirk as part of a defense corps that "did a great job gapping up," taking time and space away from the Sharks throughout the night.
"You can't give teams easy outs, you've got to gap up off their highest forward, you've got to be in people's faces. I thought we did a much better job of that, causing turnovers, we were able to create a little bit of transition.
"We've got to build on that, it can't be a one-time thing. What are you going to do? We did it once, we've got to put ourselves in a position to play like that repeatedly and give ourselves a chance night-in and night-out.
Quinn said at the start of the week he was targeting this game for Alexander Georgiev to take his third start of the season in the Ranger nets. Georgiev was superb in his last start, stopping 36 shots in a 5-2 victory over the Panthers at the Garden last Tuesday. Henrik Lundqvist, who made 31 saves and stopped all three Sharks shootout attempts the other night, has started 10 of the Rangers' 12 games so far this season.
"He's a good goalie, we want to get him a game, and Hank needs a bit of a break," Quinn said of the 22-year-old Georgiev. "And we trust him. Anxious for him to play tomorrow."
With backup Ryan Miller having played in the Ducks' loss to the Flyers on Tuesday, Anaheim figures to turn back to John Gibson against the Blueshirts. No goaltender in the league has faced more shots so far this season than Gibson, who has seen 384 pucks and turned away 360 of them, a .938 save percentage good for fourth-best in the league among qualifying goalies.
Gibson was the driving force behind Anaheim's 5-1-1 record out of the gates in spite of a litany of injuries (including to Corey Perry, whose knee surgery will keep him out until after the New Year). But since a 4-1 win over the Islanders on Oct. 17, the Ducks have dropped their last six games (0-5-1), scoring just 11 goals over that stretch.

LINEUP LAST TIME OUT

90 Namestnikov - 93 Zibanejad - 36 Zuccarello
20 Kreider - 13 Hayes - 23 Spooner
26 Vesey - 21 Howden - 17 Fast
8 McLeod - 72 Chytil - 95 Lettieri
Scratched: 89 Buchnevich
18 Staal - 44 Pionk
76 Skjei - 77 DeAngelo
42 Smith - 22 Shattenkirk
Scratched: 54 McQuaid (lower body)
40 Georgiev*
30 Lundqvist
*Will start at Anaheim

NUMBERS GAME

The Ducks have allowed 501 shots on goal in their 13 games this season. The league average is 357.
Jesper Fast will play his 300th NHL game, all as a Ranger.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Vlad Namestnikov was slated for top-line minutes in San Jose, but wound up playing just 16:04 after blocking a pair of shots in the third period with the Rangers protecting a lead. Quinn said Wednesday that "I have liked Vladdy's game for a while now," and Namestnikov certainly did nothing to diminish that the night before.
The last four goals the Ducks have scored have come from Pontus Aberg, a waiver-wire pickup from Edmonton two days before their season opener. Aberg - a teammate of Mika Zibanejad and Freddy Claesson teammate for three season with Djurgardens in the Swedish league - has four goals in the last two games after scoring five in his first 68 NHL games for the Predators and Oilers.
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