Ducks fall in New York

Ales Kotalik’s power-play goal broke a third-period tie, and backup Steve Valiquette made 18 saves in the New York Rangers’ fourth straight victory, 3-0, against the Ducks on Sunday.

New York, 4-0 since a season-opening loss to the Stanley Cup-champion Pittsburgh Penguins, earned this victory in Sean Avery’s season debut following his knee injury during training camp. Avery played his annoying style and goaded Ducks defenseman Ryan Whitney into a roughing penalty 1:34 into the third, setting up Kotalik’s winning score.

Valiquette stopped 11 shots in the second period after a quiet start and earned his fourth NHL shutout and 15th career victory.

Little-used forward Artem Anisimov scored his first NHL goal with 5:38 left during another power play to make it 2-0, with an assist from Avery. That goal was set up by Evgeny Artyukhin’s four-minute double minor penalty for high-sticking.

Dan Girardi secured the win with a short-handed empty-net goal with 1:59 left.

It was a hard-luck loss for the Ducks, who were playing for the second straight night with starts less than 24 hours apart.

Jean-Sebastien Giguere, making his second start of the season in goal, finished with 35 saves as the Ducks wrapped up a four-game trip at 2-1-1.