Rangers stop skid with win over Ducks ahead of tough Bruins matchup

The Rangers needed to pack a feel-good win with them on their way to Boston on Friday night.

And a 5-1 victory over a down-bad Ducks team fit the bill for the Blueshirts, who will need to bring what they brought to the Madison Square Garden ice on Friday and then some when they take on the other top team in the East, the Bruins, on Saturday at the anti-Garden — er, TD Garden.

This was an opportunity to get back in the win column after the Rangers lost three of their previous four games while getting outscored 18-9.

This was also a game that could’ve hurled the Rangers further into a downward spiral if they lost to a club that is now on a five-game losing skid, as well as losers of 13 of their last 14 games.

Instead, the Rangers — who were without K’Andre Miller for a second straight game due to personal reasons and Nick Bonino because he was too under the weather to go last minute — powered to a win behind two goals from Chris Kreider and yet another game-winner from Jimmy Vesey.

While the Rangers have been without some key players, including Filip Chytil and Kaapo Kakko, who are both still on long-term injured reserve, the Ducks are depleted as well without Trevor Zegras, Mason McTavish and Jaimie Drysdale.

Since Bonino was ultimately scratched after taking warmups, Adam Edstrom drew into the Rangers lineup and made his NHL debut after getting recalled for AHL Hartford just hours earlier.

The Rangers’ 161st-overall pick in 2019, who scored his first NHL goal with seconds left on the clock, directly replaced Bonino in the middle of what should be called the Wolf Pack line with his former AHL teammates Will Cuylle and Jonny Brodzinski.

The late switch hardly affected the Rangers, who scored four unanswered after the Ducks opened the scoring in the first period.

After killing off back-to-back penalties, including a nine-second five-on-three stretch, the Rangers gave up the first goal for a second straight game and the sixth time in the last seven games.

Brett Leason’s shot from the high slot got through at the 13:29 mark, but Kreider snapped a five-game scoreless streak to answer for the Rangers.

Not only was it Kreider’s first goal since Dec. 2, but it tied the longest-tenured Ranger with Adam Graves for the third-most goals in franchise history before he netted his second of the night later on in the game to surpass the legendary forward at 281.

The Rangers picked up the forecheck in the second period, and Vesey notched his seventh goal of the season as a result.

Taking a slick feed from Adam Fox, Vesey went stick side on Ducks goalie Lukas Dostal for the 2-1 lead.

Anaheim struggled to stay out of the box after that, taking seven straight penalties from the second period into the third.

Call-ups Brodzinski and Edstrom helped out by drawing two of those calls with smart plays.

Kreider then netted his second of the game on the power play with a gorgeous redirection of an Artemi Panarin feed at the 16:19 mark of the middle frame.

The Rangers just had to stay disciplined from there, and they did.

Mika Zibanejad then added another power-play goal at the end of the final frame to seal the win.

Goalie Jonathan Quick did the rest with nine saves in the third period en route to 28 on the night to remain undefeated in regulation so far this season.

A win over the second-to-last team in the NHL is important.

For it to come on the eve of a bigger matchup, amid the Rangers’ need for a mental boost, was even more crucial.

Ship it up to Boston.