On a night that they fell behind by two goals in the first period, the Rangers rallied back for a 5-2 win over the Ducks in Anaheim. The victory halted a two-game skid that could’ve been more.

Usually, most of the accolades go to the team’s established stars. While they did receive power-play goals from Vincent Trocheck and Artemi Panarin, whose team-leading 28th proved to be the game-winner with less than six minutes remaining in the third period, it was the gritty play of Will Cuylle who provided the spark for the Rangers’ comeback win.

Even though they held a huge edge in attempts (79-36), the Rangers had issues getting shots through on Ducks’ backup goalie Lukas Dostal for the first two periods. Despite controlling most of the play, they only led 18-10 in shots after 40 minutes. They were able to change that in a strong final period that saw them outscore the Ducks four-zip and out-shoot them 15-8 to get a much needed victory.

None of it would’ve been possible without the determination of Cuylle, who got rewarded for his hustle. With the Rangers still trailing the Ducks 2-1 with less than 10 minutes to play, a good forechecking shift from Cuylle, Jonny Brodzinski, and Blake Wheeler led to Cuylle tying the game.

Cuylle was parked in front of Dostal when Jacob Trouba took a shot from the right point that Cuylle tipped in for the game-tying goal with 9:50 remaining in regulation. His eighth goal of the season was a critical one for a team that had lost six of their last eight games. They desperately needed a win against an inferior opponent that is one of the league’s worst teams.

“He was excellent all night,” Rangers coach Peter Laviolette told reporters following the game. “He’s moving his feet, he’s physical, he’s around the net, he’s getting to the net. We haven’t had enough of that presence around the net, so it’s been a topic of conversation. He’s battling all the time to get in there. He’s willing to pay the price to get there.”

It was also Cuylle’s hustle that drew a Mason McTavish tripping minor with under six minutes to go in a tie game. He drove to the net and was taken down. That led directly to Panarin, scoring the game deciding goal on the power play with 5:37 left in the contest.

After going 0 for 2 on the man-advantage, the Rangers got back in the game when Trocheck finished off a Chris Kreider pass in front to cut the Ducks’ lead to one with 2:02 left in the second period. The goal was set up by a smart dump in from Adam Fox. He sent a bank pass off the back boards that came right to Kreider, who fed Trocheck for the momentum turning power-play goal. Fox made a good read to get the Rangers back in it.

On their next five-on-four, it was again the combination of Kreider and Fox that netted positive results. After he received a pass up top, Fox found a wide open Panarin for a quick one-timer that gave the Rangers the lead. He snuck around the net to escape the Ducks’ penalty killers. That allowed Panarin enough room to score the go-ahead goal.

Less than two minutes later, Kreider took a Mika Zibanejad feed and steered in his own rebound past Dostal to make it 4-2. That was enough to get the victory. It came at a good time. Both the Flyers and Hurricanes lost on Sunday. The Rangers now have 60 points. That’s four more than the Flyers and five ahead of the Canes.

Jimmy Vesey added an empty netter with less than a minute left. It was his first goal since Jan. 4.

The Rangers scored five unanswered goals to earn the win. Igor Shesterkin (16 saves on 18 shots) wasn’t too busy. It was his 19th victory of the season.

The Ducks got a pair of Henrique goals in the first period to take a 2-0 lead. On the first one before a minute had gone by, K’Andre Miller got victimized when he was overaggressive on Troy Terry. That allowed Terry to slide the puck down to Leo Carlsson, who then found Henrique in front for his first goal of the game.

Henrique added his second when a Terry shot went off of Ryan Lindgren for a rebound that the former Devil squeezed in to give the Ducks a two-goal lead.

Before Cuylle tied the game in the third period, the Ducks had a McTavish goal overturned due to a successful coach’s challenge by Laviolette for offside. Had it counted, the Rangers would’ve been down 3-1 with less than 15 minutes remaining.

It’s a good thing they were successful. Alexis Lafreniere didn’t pick up McTavish on a rebound in front. Lafreniere has to do a better job defensively. Especially when he’s not scoring.

Erik Gustafsson returned after missing the last game. He played 15:55 while partnering with Braden Schneider. Zac Jones was a healthy scratch. Laviolette reinserted Nick Bonino for Tyler Pitlick.

Kaapo Kakko missed a few shifts in the second period, with Laviolette searching for offense. He only played 8:08. Kakko must get more ice time than that regardless of the game situation.

The Rangers conclude the four-game road trip when they visit the woeful Sharks on Tuesday night, Jan. 23. They can salvage a split after looking like they might fall to 0-3 before the furious third period rally against the Ducks last night.