Henrik Lundqvist pulled in Anaheim as Rangers lose third straight

ANAHEIM, Calif. — For the first three games of this Rangers road trip that has veered badly off course, the West has been paved with gold: fool’s gold. Tuesday’s 6-3 loss was the oddest of the trio.

Henrik Lundqvist was pulled in the first period Tuesday after allowing three goals on seven shots against the Ducks. He was replaced by Ondrej Pavelec with 3:30 left in the period and the Rangers trailing 3-2.

“I was just too slow for whatever reason,” Lundqvist said. “I just didn’t have it. I’m not going to feel great every game. I have to stop two of those three, I have to come up with the saves. I was not able to raise my game. It happens.”

Coach Alan Vigneault agreed. “Just didn’t feel that he was the Hank that a lot of times makes those saves and it was time for a change,” he said. “Two of the three goals were saves that he usually makes look routine.”

Pavelec allowed a goal two minutes later on the first shot he faced, a shorthanded breakaway to former Devil Adam Henrique. J.T. Miller’s miscue, a pass toward the boards in midice on a power play, was easily picked off by Ryan Getzlaf, who sent Henrique in alone. His deke left Pavelec sprawling and his goal provided a 4-2 lead at 18:38.

Miller did not have a shift the rest of the game. “I’d seen enough,” Vigneault said.

Rick Nash scored his 14th and 15th goals for the Rangers. It was the third time in five games in which Nash scored twice.

Michael Grabner scored the only goal of the second period on a breakaway for his 21st goal. Mika Zibanejad set up Grabner for the shorthanded goal, which cut the Rangers’ deficit to 4-3. Pavelec stopped all 14 shots he faced in that second period.

But the Rangers allowed a power-play goal to Rickard Rakell just 30 seconds into the third as the Ducks restored their two-goal lead. Jesper Fast took an interference minor 17 seconds into the period and the Ducks cashed in right away to make it 5-3.

Ryan Getzlaf sealed it with an empty-net goal with 2:21 left.

“Everyone showed up,” Mats Zuccarello said, “but we gave up too many easy goals. It’s that time of the season when every little break goes against you and every bad play ends up in the back of our net. At the end of the day, it was a rocky game, not good enough from anyone. It’s real frustrating. It’s hard to be positive at time like this.”

Vigneault said: “We played a hard second, made it a one-goal game, and then a questionable call in my opinion [on Fast’s] penalty.”

Against Colorado on Saturday, speed killed the Blueshirts, and Henrik Lundqvist faced 37 shots. Against Los Angeles on Sunday, the once-sharp, penalty-kill of the Rangers surrendered three power-play goals in the second period, which erased a two-goal lead.

On Tuesday, in their third consecutive loss — and sixth in eight games overall — the team’s lone All-Star, Lundqvist, who had kept the Rangers in close games for weeks, faltered.

The Blueshirts, who had 44 shots but continue to skid defensively, are now 7-12-2 on the road, and only a victory over the Sharks in San Jose on Thursday would avoid a crushing sweep on the road before the All-Star break.

Nash, who had scored twice from in front in the first period, was called for hooking with 4:23 to go in the second. The Rangers then brought it to within one, 4-3, on Grabner’s shorthanded breakaway.

A late slashing minor from Brendan Smith carried over to the third and Fast’s early interference let the Ducks expand the lead. Corey Perry’s wide shot was collected off the end boards and tucked in by Rakell for the second power-play tally of the night and a 5-3 lead.

“We know how tight it is,” captain Ryan McDonagh had said before the game. “Our focus is not trying to look too much big picture and standings and where we’re at. We’ve got two games before the All-Star break, let’s get some points . . . We’re doing some positives in each game, a lot more positives than negatives. It’s just proving how important each shift is and how important each situation is. We’re getting to the 50-games mark here, every play could be the difference.”

The Ducks led early. Peter Holland’s shot caromed off the boards and was scooped by J.T. Brown, who raced down the left side and beat Lundqvist short side, over his right shoulder, with a 45-foot snap shot at 3:25.

The Rangers, still without three of their better players — Chris Kreider, Kevin Hayes and Kevin Shattenkirk — put plenty of rubber on John Gibson, and missed wide on rebounds until Nash scored his first, a wraparound at the right post off Zuccarello’s sharp pass from the right boards at 11:09 to forge a 1-1 tie.

That didn’t last. During a bad line change, Smith lost track of Perry, who got behind the defenseman. Getzlaf found him streaking in alone and Perry fired the puck through Lundqvist’s pads on the power play at 13:23.

Nash brought the Rangers back to 2-2 with his 15th, sweeping in a loose puck at 15:14. But Josh Manson went inside-out on Brady Skjei and the puck dropped to a trailing Andrew Cogliano, whose shot went in over a crouching Lundqvist. Lundqvist kicked the puck toward the boards and headed to the bench at 16:31. That didn’t change the outcome.