NY RANGERS @ SAN JOSE SHARKS POST GAME RECAP

Road Trip Ends On Downer As Rangers Fall 4-1

Henrik Lundqvist did all he could to keep his vastly outplayed team in its finale of a three-game trip to California Saturday afternoon, but a third-period explosion by the San Jose Sharks against the mistake-prone Rangers was the difference as New York suffered a 4-1 defeat.
The Rangers earned three of a possible six points on the trip. They beat the Anaheim Ducks 2-1 on Wednesday before suffering a 4-3 overtime loss to the Kings in Los Angeles on Thursday. Saturday's defeat was a bitter finish to a difficult trip which started out so well.
Lundqvist carried the Rangers on his back, somehow backstopping a 1-1 tie into the early stages of the third period. He had stopped 36 of 37 shots through the opening two periods, but his team's mistakes finally caught up with Lundqvist when the Sharks scored three times in a span of three minutes 20 seconds in the third.
Joe Thornton scored the go-ahead goal off a clean rebound with no defenseman near him at 5:45. Joel Ward netted his second of the game, off an odd-man rush at 7:35; and Joe Pavelski scored his team-high 33rd of the season, also off an odd-man rush at 9:05. In an eye-blink, a 1-1 tie became a 4-1 deficit for the Rangers.
Lundqvist was lifted from the game after Pavelski's goal and replaced by Antti Raanta. He faced 47 shots over 49 minutes 5 seconds, stopping 43. Raanta stopped the five shots he faced as New York was outshot by a whopping 52-26 margin.
While Lundqvist's brilliance through two periods was a major storyline story Saturday, there were several important sub plots played out throughout the first 40 minutes, as well, not the least of which was Dan Boyle scoring against his former team to help the Rangers forge a 1-1 tie late in the second period despite being badly outplayed.
Boyle, who had aggressively jumped into the play all afternoon long, did so again with two and a half minutes remaining in the middle period, and this time he connected. Derick Brassard slid a pass from the bottom of the left circle towards the front of the Sharks net where Boyle collected the pass, deked goaltender Martin Jones down and out, and roofed his 8th goal of the season--and second in as many games--into the cage to pull the visitors even at 17:32.
Just before Boyle's goal Rick Nash was viciously slashed by Ward as he crossed over the blue line. Nash was in obvious pain as he exited the ice, and was writhing on the bench when Boyle tied things up. Fortunately he was able to return on his next shift despite the wicked unpenalized slash.
Earlier in the period Ward had scored the game's first goal, a power play one-timer after a pretty reverse pass from behind the goal line by teammate Joonas Donskoi at 7:50.
That was the only goal surrendered by Lundqvist through the opening two periods of play. He stopped all 16 shots he faced in the first period before stopping 20 of 21 in the second period when he was under siege nearly the full 20 minutes.
In that middle period it was one highlight-reel save after another for Lundqvist, starting with his well-positioned denial of Thornton's weaving attempt after the big-bodied Sharks center had powered through the Rangers defense at 1:36. His victims later on included Melker Karlsson off a 2 on 1, Hertl one on one, and a stunning sequence where Hertl, Thornton, and Pavelski were all robbed during a wild scramble in the crease.
However Lundqvist could not continue to be a one-man show, and the Sharks capitalized on Rangers mistakes to score three times early in the third period to pull away and hand the Rangers a loss in their road trip finale.
The Rangers headed back to New York following the game and, after a day off Sunday, they will be back in action Monday night hosting the Florida Panthers at Madison Square Garden.

Jim Cerny
BlueshirtsUnited.com

FINAL STATS

 
NY Rangers 1 San Jose Sharks 4
SOG: NYR 26 SJS 52
Scoring Summary
1st Period
NONE
2nd Period
07:50 SJS Joel Ward (18) Asst: Donskoi (21) Hertl (22) PPG 1-0 SJS
17:31 Dan Boyle (8) Asst: Brassard (27) M Staal (12) tie 1-1
3rd Period
05:45 SJS Joe Thornton (17) Asst: Hertl (23) Palveski (35) 2-1 SJS
07:34 SJS Joel Ward (19) Asst: Marleau (21) Martin (16) 3-1 SJS
09:05 SJS Joe Pavelski (33) Asst: Hertl (24) 4-1 SJS

Penalty Summary
1st Period
03:16 SJS Tommy Wingels Closing hand on puck
2nd Period
02:14 SJS Tommy Wingels tripping on Mats Zuccarello
02:14 NYR Tanner Glass roughing against Tommy Wingels
06:01 NYR Too many men on ice served by JT Miller
3rd Period
00:19 NYR Marc Staal Delay of game-puck over glass
10:32 SJS Darius Zubrus tripping against Ryan McDonagh
18:53 NYR Dominic Moore boarding against Dylan DeMelo

Team Stats after 2 Periods
Faceoff Win %: NYR 57% SJS 43%
PIM: NYR 8 SJS 6
Power Play: NYR 0/2 SJS 1/3
Blocked Shots: NYR 18 SJS 17
Takeaways: NYR 8 SJS 7
Giveaways: NYR 15 SJS 15
Hits: NYR 19 SJS 24



NEXT GAME
The Rangers return home Monday, March 21st at 7:00 PM to take on the Atlantic Division leading Florida Panthers