New York Rangers hold off late Sharks surge for a 2-1 win
The New York Rangers held on for dear life after thinking they had downed the San Jose Sharks once Adam Fox scored an empty-net goal with 67 seconds remaining.
Instead, the Sharks swam harder and cut the deficit in half when Logan Couture slammed one home at 19:43 of the third. Then Igor Shesterkin, who finished with 22 saves in the contest, made an incredible stop off a deflection with 4 seconds left to preserve the 2-1 victory for the Blueshirts.
“I think Igor’s been outstanding,” Gerard Gallant said. “I’m happy with Igor from Day One. We know what we have back there. When we play well like we did tonight, we’ll win a lot of those games.”
Recap: Rangers 2 vs Sharks 1
1st Period
The Rangers played an excellent road game and came out strong in the opening 20 minutes outshooting the Sharks by a 15-8 margin.
James Reimer and the goal posts were the only reason this was even a contest as he stopped a total of 41 shots.
Late in the period, Ryan Carpenter was called for boarding on Nico Sturm giving the Sharks a power play to start the second frame.
2nd Period
The Blueshirts PK was able to kill it off, and didn’t take another minor for the rest of the contest.
On the flip side, they would get three power plays but came up blank. The Rangers frustration was starting to mount with each Reimer save. Hitting the post twice and a crossbar for good measure didn’t help either.
“We were a little frustrated the puck didn’t go in the net but they kept pushing,” Gallant explained. “Some of the guys got frustrated, you could see it on the power play. There were a lot of Grade A chances tonight. Reimer made some great saves and there were three or four posts… Since the first game of the season, this one was the best for me.”
3rd Period
The Rangers finally broke through late in the third after relentless work.
With 6:03 remaining, Ryan Carpenter won a draw clean back to Jacob Trouba. The Rangers defenseman ripped a shot that Julien Gauthier managed to get a stick on to change the trajectory to beat Reimer.
“It was a nice little reward at the end. We had a good game my linemates and myself putting a lot of pucks on net,” Gauthier admitted. “That win felt good for our group. We stuck with it and got two points.”
New York got the game winner with an empty net tally by Adam Fox. It wasn’t your typical empty-netter as the Sharks were defending vigorously and the Rangers were moving the puck around the offensive zone looking for an opening. Mika Zibanejad and Jimmy Vesey picked up well-earned assists on the goal.
In the end, Igor Shesterkin had his shutout bid broken on a late score by Logan Couture. Trouba’s stick got stuck in the net essentially taking him out of the play and making it a 2 on 0 down low.
The Rangers, probably not expecting another push, were caught flat-footed that resulted in one last brilliant Shesterkin save with 4 seconds left to preserve the victory.
“We liked our game up until that third period, and we knew the bounces and chances were coming and we liked what we were seeing and getting pucks on net. It was just a matter of a bounce or two,” Rangers defenseman K’Andre Miller said. “Credit a lot to our goalie back there. He’s been unreal since I’ve joined this team. He’s been that guy that can win games for us single-handedly, so huge shout out to [Shesterkin]. I can’t imagine that’s too easy of a job.”
NHL.com
Notable Rangers
- Igor Shesterkin made 22 saves, he’s 5-0-1 on the road this season
- Adam Fox extended his point streak to 8 games (4G – 8A)
Sunday, November 20: Day Off
Monday, November 21: Practice at Toyota Sports Center, 4:00 PM ET
Tuesday, November 22: at Los Angeles Kings, 10:30 PM ET
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