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Jagr's overtime goal lifts Rangers past Ducks

Nov 2, 2006 - 6:05 AM ANAHEIM, California (Ticker) -- With one mighty swing of his stick, Jaromir Jagr put the New York Rangers back in the win column.

Jagr scored the game-winning goal in overtime and Brendan Shanahan added a goal and two assists to lead the Rangers to a 4-3 triumph over the Anaheim Ducks.

After failing to score in nine power-play opportunities in Monday's loss to the Los Angeles Kings, New York netted a pair of tallies with the man advantage to win for the second time in three contests.

"It feels good and it's an important win for us," Rangers coach Tom Renney said. "We've been less than stellar this year and we came to play against one of the better teams in the National Hockey League. It took all of us and the entire 60 minutes and more. So, it's gratifying, but it's not something we can rest on."

Ducks defenseman Francois Beauchemin was whistled for roughing with 2:10 left in the overtime. Jagr ended the game just 19 seconds later with a one-timer of blue-liner Michal Rozsival's cross-ice feed from the right faceoff circle past goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere.

"It was a one-timer," Jagr said. "I still can't shoot like I'd like to. I didn't feel good out there. I'm just 50 percent to 60 percent now."

"I got punched in the back and punched in the face and I retaliated (against Aaron Ward)," Beauchemin said. "I thought he was going to call both of us, but I was the only one in the box. Then they scored the power-play goal."

Jagr, who also collected an assist, recorded his league-leading 20th point and 595th career goal to give the Rangers just their third win in their last nine road games against the Ducks.

"We have to accept the responsibility for (playing more consistently)," Renney said. "It was important for us to play well after a bad performance in Los Angeles. The bottom line is responsibility, taking ownership of your performance as an individual and as a group. We're a work in progress that way."

New York tied the score at 4:57 of the third period when Giguere stopped Matt Cullen's shot from a bad angle before Petr Prucha knocked the rebound past his right pad.

Shanahan gave the Rangers a 2-1 lead with his 11th goal of the season and 609th of his career in the second period, moving past Dino Ciccarelli for 13th place all-time. He is one shy of Hall of Famer Bobby Hull for 12th.

"He's a very wise player," Renney said. "He's very alert, very complimentary of his teammates. The references he makes in games are important references from the bench and on the ice to his teammates. What he does is he brings experience to every single shift."

However, Anaheim regained the lead by converting a pair of Rangers turnovers into tallies.

Chris Pronger intercepted fellow defenseman Marek Malik's clearing attempt in the Rangers' zone and fired a wrister under the crossbar to tie the score with 9:24 left in the second session.

Just 2:23 later, Malik kicked the puck away from the right boards in his own end directly to Ryan Getzlaf, whose one-timer from the right faceoff circle beat goaltender Kevin Weekes to give Anaheim a 3-2 edge.

Blair Betts scored his second goal of the campaign in the first period and Weekes made 30 saves in just his second start of the season for the Rangers.

"I tried to be patient and stay back," Weekes said. "I didn't want to overchallenge or overcommit. It's easy to ride a wave when you're in a good stretch, or when you're playing frequently. But your true resolve gets tested when you don't play as often as you've been accustomed to."

Teemu Selanne snapped a 10-game scoring drought with his 494th career goal and Giguere stopped 30 shots to fall to 7-0-4 for Anaheim, which remains the only Western Conference team without a regulation loss.

"We can't win hockey games if we're going to take 10 penalties," Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said. "It's too taxing and teams are loaded with offensive players. It's not like you can continually give those number of opportunities up."

"Our challenge right now is to realize we haven't been at the top of our game for the last little bit and we have to get back there," Anaheim defenseman Scott Niedermayer said. "We have to fight and do everything we can to get back there, get focused on what we have to do as a team when we're playing our best."