Ducks Suffer Shootout Loss to the Rangers

After a very sluggish start to the game, the Ducks were able to bounce back for a strong second half at New York. That was only good for one point though, as Anaheim came up short in a 2-1 shootout loss to the Rangers.

Outshot 10-2 in the opening period, the Ducks had to be pleased they were down by only one goal after 20 minutes. They evened the score on Bobby Ryan's fifth goal of the season at the 18:18 mark of the second.

The score remained knotted at 1-1 until the shootout, where came to an end after Ryan was denied on his attempt by Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist.

Jonas Hiller bounced back from a rough outing at Washington with a fine performance against the Rangers. The Ducks netminder stopped 24-of-25 shots and made several highlight-reel saves to keep New York from doing further damage in the game. He was not able to contain Erik Christensen and Marian Gaborik in the shootout though, as they each converted for the Rangers. Teemu Selanne was the lone Duck to score at the other end of the ice.

Just like the did in Stockholm less than one month ago, the Ducks and Rangers needed a shootout to solve a 1-1 tie. But unlike the Sweden game, it was Anaheim who came up on the losing end this time around. The Ducks won 2-1 on October 8, when Ryan was the lone player to score in the shootout for either team.

Anaheim (5-5-3) ended up finishing with more shots (28) than the Rangers (25) on the night. The Ducks outshot New York 10-9 in the second period, before a dominating 15-4 advantage in the final.

The Rangers, who have earned points in six of eight games, had chances in overtime, perhaps none bigger than when defenseman Ryan McDonagh fired wide from the doorstep in the wild final minute. Hiller had made a strong glove save on Ruslan Fedotenko from in close.

Lundqvist made several key stops in the final 10 minutes of regulation, as the Ducks furiously hunted for a winning goal. Instead, they've lost seven of their last eight.

After outplaying the Ducks for most of two periods, the Rangers started to fray. A period of ragged defending and a giveaway on a mishandled centering pass in the Ducks zone helped set up Ryan's tying goal at 18:18 of the second. He fired a dart over Lundqvist's shoulder on the Ducks' 12th shot.

About 90 seconds later, Michael Del Zotto went off for hooking, and fellow Rangers defenseman Dan Girardi was hit in the head by a puck with a second remaining before the intermission. But the Rangers remained in a tie.

Gaborik's second-period shot on the power play trickled past everyone, and the post, too. In the first, Hiller slid left and stopped him on a close-in attempt with his left pad.

The Rangers had more of the action in a mostly free-flowing first period that was scoreless until Woywitka was left alone for a slap shot that trickled past Hiller at 17:32. As soon as the puck was dropped following the goal, Anaheim's George Parros and New York's Andre Deveaux fought in front of the benches.

The Rangers failed to produce on a 4-on-3 power play less than a minute later. Hiller made a glove save on a slap shot, then later slid to his left as Gaborik sped past the goal mouth to prevent the Rangers from going up 2-0.

Three minutes into the game, Rangers fans chanted for Sean Avery, even though the forward was scratched from the lineup after he cleared re-entry waivers and was recalled by the Rangers from the Connecticut Whale of the AHL.

NOTES: Rangers F Wojtek Wolski left during the first period and didn't return because of a recurring groin injury that sidelined him earlier this season. ... Anaheim has one more stop on its seven-game road trip, a visit to Detroit before going back to California.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.