Recap: Sharks Feast Early, Defeat Rangers 3-1

Onward and westward! The New York Rangers' West Coast tour continues tonight as they visit the high-flying, youthful San Jose Sharks. Powered by wunderkind Macklin Celebrini, the Sharks are now coming out on the other side of their rebuild plans and contending for a playoff spot in the Western Conference. On the other hand, the Rangers continue to fall in the standings.

After narrowly losing in Los Angeles, the Rangers are icing most of the same roster tonight. The two exceptions are Spencer Martin getting the start and Anton Blidh dressing in place of Jonny Brodzinski. After spending the third period on the bench in their game against the Los Angeles Kings, Brodzinski seems to be in Mike Sullivan's doghouse.

First Period

While it took longer than 18 seconds for the Sharks to score, the Rangers' start to this game was still arguably worse than their last. Less than a minute into the game, Mika Zibanejad was called for tripping, and the Sharks went on the power play. Macklin Celebrini wasted no time getting the hometown team on the scoreboard first.

Less than a minute later, Matthew Robertson sent the puck over the glass and went to the penalty box for delay of game, giving the Sharks their second power play in the first two minutes. This was rinse-and-repeat for the Sharks, as they would go up by two. This time, Pavol Regenda struck, backhanding the puck past Martin after Michael Misa found him all alone in the slot. San Jose has struggled on the power play lately, failing to capitalize with the man advantage in their last five games, but not tonight.

The Sharks kept feasting on the Rangers as Celebrini was actively proving why he was a number one overall pick. Colin Graf pressured Carson Soucy into making a bad pass at the Rangers' blue line and chased it down. Graf backhanded a pass off the boards to Will Smith, who pivoted and sent the puck right into Celebrini’s wheelhouse at the top of the circle, rifling a shot past Martin for his second goal of the game.

Trocheck, after making a great defensive play in the Rangers' zone, skated through the neutral zone, dumped the puck into the Sharks' end, and then got off the ice. Raddysh forechecked, and Sam Carrick, who had just come off the bench, stopped the puck on the boards and sent a shot wide. The Sharks attempted to clear the puck, but it was kept in and sent back toward the net. All three Rangers' forwards converged on the net, with both Anton Blidh and Carrick frantically trying to get the puck on their sticks. Carrick was able to settle it, then turned and flung it on net through Nedeljkovic for the Rangers' first goal of the game.

Second Period

The Rangers were continuing to show signs of life and dominated the early part of the second period. Lafrenière specifically made a smooth skill play high in the Sharks zone and found Trocheck alone deep by the net, but he couldn't outmaneuver Nedeljkovic.

The game was starting to get out of control when Sam Carrick was taken out behind the play, but no call was made. When the puck came down the ice into the Rangers' zone, Soucy was thrown down in the corner by Regenda. After the play was whistled down, Soucy confronted Regenda, grabbing him from behind, prompting the linesmen to intervene and break them up. Soucy ended up getting two minutes for roughing.

The Blueshirts were able to kill the penalty, but the Sharks got multiple dangerous chances, with Eklund and Celebrini making drop passes, sending the puck on net, and making cross-crease passes, forcing Martin to stand tall. As the penalty wound down, Schneider collided with Regenda, causing Regenda to fall to the ice. With no call made, the crowd let the officials know their opinion.

The second period saw less action until just over halfway, when the ice began to open up for both teams. Pavol Regenda got a great lead pass and started breaking into the Rangers' zone, but was stopped by Will Borgen, who would shortly after be visiting the box for holding, giving the Sharks their fifth power play of the game.

The Sharks controlled the puck in the Rangers' zone for most of the power play. Multiple high-danger chances for San Jose didn't materialize thanks to narrow misses and defensive sticks. Schneider made a save on what would have definitely been a goal from Alex Wennberg. He managed to lift Wennberg's stick just enough to stop the former Ranger from slamming the puck into an empty net.

The last minute of the period was the best for the Rangers in some time. The third line got the puck in deep and forechecked, disrupting the Sharks' attempts to break out. Othmann picked the defenseman's pocket behind the net, leading to a prime scoring chance. After gaining possession in the offensive zone with seconds left in the game, the Panarin line had another scoring opportunity, and there was some confusion about whether the period had ended. Mike Sullivan was seen arguing with the officials, and replays clearly showed there was one second remaining in the period, but nevertheless, the period was ruled to be over.

Third Period

Throughout the period, the Sharks' talent was on full display. It has been a long time coming for San Jose, but they have several highly skilled forwards who skate with the puck all over the ice. Despite the Sharks outclassing the Rangers, the first half of the period was relatively uneventful. The highlight was a bad bounce from the puck that gave Tyler Toffoli a dangerous chance, which he rang off the post.

Close to halfway through the third period, the Rangers would take yet another penalty. This time, Gabe Perreault was called for elbowing. During a small skirmish behind the net, it was initially thought he might have been mistaken for Miller, but the replay showed Perreault skate past Celebrini and intentionally raise his elbow, connecting with Celebrini's head—an unexpected culprit.

This power play was the least effective of the Sharks' six chances so far on the man advantage that night. The Rangers managed to disrupt several plays, and Miller and Zibanejad even had their own opportunity on an odd-man rush.

As the Rangers struggled to keep up with the faster Sharks, Will Borgen took another penalty for hooking. This was the seventh minor penalty committed by the Rangers and the second for Borgen tonight. Setting aside tanking, taking seven penalties in a game is never a successful strategy in hockey. The Rangers managed to kill the penalty, but San Jose threatened to increase their lead, ultimately falling short after several big stops by Martin.

With close to three minutes left in the game, the Rangers pulled Martin for the extra attacker. They maintained possession and cycled the puck around the Sharks' zone, looking for an open lane, but couldn't make it happen as San Jose forced the puck out. Things appeared to take a turn for the worse momentarily, but Gavrikov skated hard to win a puck race and prevent the empty net goal to keep the Rangers' hopes alive. Othmann, Laba, and Perreault saw ice time at the end of the game, but neither they nor any of the Rangers' big forwards could make an impact as the Rangers fell short in San Jose after spending almost a third of the game in the penalty box.