The New York Rangers season hasn't gone as
planned this season. After opening the season with a winless skid at home that
extended through their first 8 games at Madison Square Garden, the Rangers have
struggled to turn their season around. Their 16-11-2 road record has been the
only thing positive for them this season, but even that was tarnished on Friday
night as the Sharks made three 1st period goals stand up in a 3-1 win at SAP
Center.
The game was a brief stop for some home cooking and clean
underwear for a Sharks team that just concluded a 5-game road trip. They head
back out on the road on Monday for another 5 games before the Olympic break.
Friday ninght's game is the last time the home crowd will see the Sharks until
February 26th.
San Jose jumped on the Rangers quickly, then held on for
their 26th win of the season.
Alex Nedeljkovic won his 5th consecutive
start, turning aside 28 shots to earn his 10th win of the season.
The
Sharks wasted no time getting on the scoreboard. They would bag a pair of
penalty aided goals in the first 3 minutes of the game to take a quick 2-0
lead.
Mika Zibanejad was called for tripping just 29 seconds into the
game to setup a Macklin Celebrini goal 40 seconds later. Tyler Toffoli held a
pass as he sat parked outside the left post waiting for an opportunity to feed
Celebrini on the far post. When that opportunity came, Toffoli zipped a pass
through the crease that hit Celebrini in the skate and deflected past Rangers
goaltender Spencer Martin.
Matthew Robertson lifted a puck over the
glass on the next shift to put the Sharks back on the power play. Pavol Regenda
made it a 2-0 lead at 3:08 when he found himself with the puck and nothing but
daylight between him and Martin. He would put a backhand shot past Martin from
the slot for his 8th goal of the season.
Celebrini would add a second
goal at 7:37, but this one came 5-on-5. Will Smith setup his linemate with a
pass from the left side. Celebrini got a shot off from between the circles as
he went down to a knee, converting his 26th tally of the season.
Sam
Carrick stopped the bleeding with a goal at 12:50 after a wild scrum outside
the left post. The Rangers centerman slid the puck to the crease but goaltender
Alex Nedeljkovic's left pad carried it into his own net to make it a 3-1 game.
A holding penalty late in the period by Mario Ferraro setup a chance
for the Rangers to claw back into the game. The Sharks would kill off the
penalty but it was a subtle reminder that they blew a 2-goal lead in New York
back in October.
Will Smith could have extended the Sharks lead to
3-goals early in the 2nd period, but a Celebrini feed heeled on him allowing
the Rangers to keep the game within striking distance.
San Jose enjoyed 2 more power play chances in the
middle period, but could not capitalize. Their early conversions were aided by
shots getting to the net. Both power pay units spent more time trying to setup
chances with perimeter passes that did little more than kill clock.
The Sharks were lucky to get to the 2nd intermission with their 2-goal lead
intact. They were a bit too loose in that period and struggled to get the puck
out of their own end.
Gabe Perreault put the Sharks on their 6th power
play of the night 8:33 into the 3rd period after he stuck an elbow out and
caught Celebrini in the face. New York had the only scoring chance on the 2
minute minor, but it did kill valuable time off the clock.
Will Borgen
added to the Rangers struggles by taking a hooking penalty with 6:05 to play.
The Rangers penalty killers negated the Sharks man-advantage to keep the game
semi-manageable.
Rangers head coach Mike Sullivan pulled Martin with
3:55 to play with the 2-goal deficit still in play. Neither team would
score.
Game Notes: * The Sharks honored their Olympians
before opening puck drop. Macklin Celebrini (Canada), Pavol Regenda (Slovakia),
Alexander Wennberg (Sweden) and Philipp Kurashev (Switzerland) will represent
their respective countries in Milan/Cortina starting February 5th.
*
Celebrini became the fastest Shark to record 50 career goals, doing it in 120
games. Logan Couture had held the mark at 135 games.
* SAP Center
required some ventilation hours before the game after a grease fire broke out
in one of the food vendors on the upper concourse. San Jose Fire responded but
the issue was dealt with. The smoke however decided to linger throughout the
building for a couple of hours.
* After sweeping the Florida Panthers
in their season series, the Sharks take down the Rangers with the 3-1 win.
* Philipp Kurashev skated with an orange non-contact jersey on Friday
morning.
