ANAHEIM, Calif. — The Rangers are a team that generally speaks softly while carrying big sticks, but they came into this one on Wednesday with a bit of a chip on their shoulders in this measurement challenge against the first-overall Ducks.

Notably, there was Alain Vigneault, the coach who repeatedly has insisted that last season’s success came in a different year and from a different team, proclaiming before the contest that it would be a measuring stick for Anaheim as well, because, “We’re the team that went to the Stanley Cup finals.”

Now the Blueshirts are the team that’s on an 11-1 run through which they have outscored the opposition by an aggregate 44-18 after their impressive, statement 4-1 triumph in an entertaining, up-tempo quality hockey game through which they competed and executed like the defending Eastern Conference champions.

“When we play up to our ability, I think we’re a tough team to beat,” said Mats Zuccarello, who scored to give the Rangers a 3-1 lead with 5:33 remaining in the third, just 4:18 after the Ducks had scored. “We have confidence in our room right now.”

And that confidence is producing an upper echelon standard of play on the ice. The Rangers were gritty all night long against a punishing opponent, playing a majority of the time in Anaheim’s end, their forecheck strong and their breakout sharp.

This wasn’t flashy, but this was Rangers’ hockey.

“We definitely were looking forward to this as a test, but what I liked best about our game is that we did not get caught up in the hype,” captain Ryan McDonagh said. “We didn’t go out there looking for highlight-reel goals.

“We played our game, which is predicated on getting the best through the lineup, playing good defense, competing on the full ice surface and sticking to it for 60 minutes.”

McDonagh was outstanding, and so were Marc Staal, Dan Girardi and Kevin Klein. The Ducks had their moments in pressing the issue, but when the Rangers faltered, Henrik Lundqvist did not.

“We play with a lot of poise and confidence,” said Lundqvist, who will back up Cam Talbot on Thursday night in Los Angeles when the Rangers play the, ouch, defending Cup champions. “And I think it’s good for our confidence for us to know we can play a really strong game against one of the top teams.”

The Derick Brassard-Rick Nash-Zuccarello unit got the first three goals before Dominic Moore sealed it with an empty-netter. Brassard hammered a left wing drive past Ilya Bryzgalov for a 1-0 lead at 9:10 of the second period on a delayed penalty, No. 16 jumping over the boards as an extra attacker just a second before taking J.T. Miller’s heady cross-ice feed.

It was an impressive night for Miller—again—as Vigneault used the Moore-Miller-Lee Stempniak line as his third unit what with Kevin Hayes struggling mightily between Jesper Fast and Carl Hagelin.

Nash, a forechecking demon throughout in yet another dominant performance, got his 25th for a 2-0 lead at 2:32 of the third on a deflection in front. It was No. 61 whose forecheck pressure forced the Francois Beauchemin turnover off which Zuccarello scored on a right wing wrist shot.

“It was huge for us,” Nash said. “We challenged ourselves for the last three days to use this as a measuring stick for where we are at this point in the season.”

Challenge accepted.

“At the same time, there was a stretch in the second where all four lines turned it over in succession, and that’s not really us,” said The Big Easy. “We competed like crazy and got the puck back, but to be honest, I think it’s one of those games where we could have been better.”

Is this guy a hard marker, or what?