first goal

NEW YORK — Cutter Gauthier scored the go-ahead goal six minutes into the third period and got his second on an empty-netter, Lukas Dostal stopped 26 of the 27 shots he faced, and the Ducks beat the New York Rangers 4-1 on Monday night to end a two-game losing streak.

Gauthier’s first goal with one second left on a power play came off a perfectly placed pass from rookie Beckett Sennecke. Igor Shesterkin barely had a chance to react.

Defenseman Jackson LaCombe scored Anaheim’s first goal shorthanded in the second period, putting home a rebound after Jacob Trouba sprung Ryan Poehling up the ice late in the Rangers’ five-on-three power play. Dostal was brilliant at the other end of the rink, at one point making a toe save on J.T. Miller and sliding over to deny Vladislav Gavrikov immediately after.

The Ducks got a goal in the final seconds from Pavel Mintyukov and celebrated with Trouba and veteran forward Chris Kreider, who returned to play at Madison Square Garden for the first time since the Rangers sent them to Southern California in separate trades. Kreider and Trouba each waved to the crowd after tribute videos during timeouts in the first while fans applauded.

Matthew Robertson scored the only goal for the Rangers, who have lost 12 of 16 games at home. The shot from Robinson deflected off Frank Vatrano’s stick and popped into the air before going in off Dostal’s.

New York Rangers fans welcome Ducks forward Chris Kreider back to Madison Square Garden before the start of the Ducks’ 4-1 win on Monday night.

(Noah K. Murray / Associated Press)

New York was without center Mika Zibanejad, whom coach Mike Sullivan scratched for breaking a team rule by missing a meeting. Big winger Matt Rempe took Zibanejad’s spot in the lineup, back after he missed 24 games since getting injured in a fight Oct. 23.

Up next for the Ducks: Wrap up their five-game Eastern Conference trip Tuesday at Columbus.

Connor Bedard scored for the third straight games, Spencer Knight made 26 saves and the Chicago Blackhawks beat the Kings 2-1 on Thursday night to open a two-game set.

The teams will meet again Saturday night at Crypto.com Arena.

Wyatt Kaiser had his first goal of the season to help Chicago win for the second time in three games after losing five in a row. Frank Nazar had two assists.

Trevor Moore scored, and Darcy Kuemper made 34 saves for the Kings, who were held to two goals or fewer for the seventh time in nine games.

The Blackhawks scored twice in the second period. Bedard got his fifth power-play goal to open the scoring, attacking the crease and putting in Nazar’s centering pass. Bedard has four goals and two assists in the last three games.

Kaiser made it 2-0 with 5.1 seconds left after the Kings nearly scored when the puck got tangled up at Knight’s feet and Phillip Danault couldn’t convert a wraparound into the open net.

The Kings welcomed top defenseman Drew Doughty back after he missed seven games because of a foot injury. Doughty was injured blocking a shot against Ottawa on Nov. 15.

Kings forward Warren Foegele also returned from a three-game absence because of an upper-body injury. He found Moore for a one-timer midway through the third, but it wasn’t enough to help the Kings avoid their sixth loss in eight games.

The Kings were 0 for 5 on the power play, which included Bedard’s hooking penalty with 1:26 to go and failed to capitalize on a six-on-four advantage after pulling Kuemper for an extra attacker.