ANAHEIM — The Return of The King, an adventure in the Lord of The Rings trilogy, was a box office smash.
On Sunday, a sequel involving the Rangers flopped, as Henrik Lundqvist was back in the crease after he missed eight games with a hip muscle strain, but it didn’t help and clinching a playoff berth will have to wait.
The Blueshirts had a chance to secure a postseason spot with two points, but the Ducks scored twice in 2:04 early in the third period at Honda Center to spoil Lundqvist’s return with a 6-3 win.
After Andrew Cogliano, alone in front, put a rebound off a faceoff past Lundqvist, and Patrick Eaves’ shot that was going wide bounced off Brady Skjei’s skate, the Rangers started getting prepared to end the 1-1 road trip on a high note Tuesday in San Jose.