The New York Rangers, coming off a loss against the St. Louis Blues this weekend, brought their all against San Jose on Monday night. In this fast moving game, both the Sharks and the Rangers buzzed around the ice looking for scoring opportunities. New York alternate captain Marc Staal was the first to find the back of the net almost halfway through the first period. The Sharks tied it up with a power play goal by Logan Couture only seven minutes later.
In the second period, the Rangers’ newly named alternate captain Rick Nash got his first of the season a little past the four minute mark in the second period. His teammate Chris Kreider then scored on the power play, his first power play goal of the season. Kreider’s third goal of the season gave Finnish goalie Antti Raanta his first assist as a New York Ranger. Kreider, who has been on a consistent offensive roll lately, has gotten both a goal and an assist a game since the beginning of the season. The Sharks could not get a goal in the second, making the score 3-1 going into the third period.
Although San Jose could not get a goal on the board during the second, there was no lack of scoring by either team in the third. Brent Burns got his team a goal nine minutes into the period which lessened the gap by one. However, Kevin Hayes answered back three minutes later making the score 4-2. Rangers rookie Jimmy Vesey then scored his first NHL goal 30 seconds after his longtime friend Hayes. The Sharks kept at it and Brent Burns got one past Raanta for the second time in the game not long after. Then, Burns assisted Joe Pavelski’s goal with almost five minutes left in the period.
With the score 5-4, San Jose pulled their goalie Martin Jones. Rangers fan favorite Mats Zuccarello took advantage of the empty net and scored his second of the season unassisted. Even though New York just got an empty net goal, the Sharks coaching staff decided to keep Jones on the bench again for the extra skater. One of New York’s newest acquisitions, Michael Grabner ended the night with a second empty net goal with only seven seconds left to the game.
Both teams came out with high speed and momentum swung back and forth between them at times due to penalties by both sides. Both the Sharks and the Rangers had four penalties each. Two of which for roughing when Rangers defenseman Dylan McIlrath and Sharks forward Tomas Hertl came together in a scrum. The Sharks executed really solid defense even though the Rangers ended the night with a 7-4 win. The line of Kreider, Zibanejad, and Buchnevich have been the most exciting to watch for the past three games. They have phenomenal chemistry and constantly take offensive chances that end in goals.
The New York Rangers take on the Detroit Red Wings on Wednesday night on NBCSN at 8PM. San Jose takes on another team from New York, the New York Islanders, on Tuesday night at 7PM.
