NY Rangers hope to avoid Shark attack in San Jose
The NY Rangers continue their four-game road trip in San Jose as they take on the Sharks. They’ve already been bitten by them earlier in the year at home after Erik Karlsson registered an OT winner back on October 20.
In a third period and extra session collapse that saw the Rangers outshot by an 18-2 margin, head coach Gerard Gallant called it “embarrassing.”
After opening the trip with an OT loss against the Seattle Kraken on Thursday, the Rangers will look to avoid any similar occurrences versus the Sharks.
Here’s tonight’s game and broadcast info:
New York Rangers (8-6-4) vs. San Jose Sharks (6-10-3)
Date/Time: November 19, 2022 at 10:30 PM ET
Arena: SAP Center
TV: MSG
Radio: ESPN 98.7
New York Rangers trip continues
The Rangers were able to salvage a point in Seattle thanks to their power play registering two goals.
Adam Fox assisted on Vincent Trocheck’s game-tying tally with just 1:56 remaining. That extended Fox’s point streak to seven games (3G – 8A). The 24 year-old defenseman has 20 points on the season which is second in scoring among all NHL defenseman.
“He moves the puck and defends real well,” Gallant said before the trip. “He’s been outstanding for the 100 or so games he’s played for me.”
Another key player for the team is Igor Shesterkin, who once again had to come up huge after the Rangers played a dud of a second period allowing 16 shots.
“He was good. He made some great saves and key saves, especially in that second period when it was 1-1, (against Seattle)” Gallant noted. “He kept us in the game and then we found a way to get a point at the end, but it’s not good enough. We’re better than that.”
Shesterkin was in net for that 3-2 OT loss against San Jose back in October and will be looking for a little payback. The 26 year-old has yet to lose a game in regulation on the road (4-0-1) and is expected to get the call.
While he certainly isn’t off to start he had last season when he captured the Vezina Trophy, he’s still extremely good. Thus far, Shesterkin is 8-2-3 with a GAA of 2.44 and a .914 save percentage.
The Blueshirts can’t rely on Fox and Shesterkin alone and need to play a full 60 minutes. It sounds simple enough but it’s something they’ve struggled to do for most of this season.
Erik Karlsson most dangerous Shark
The San Jose Sharks are slowly getting better after an abysmal start to the season losing their first five games.
One player in particular that the Rangers know all to well is defenseman Erik Karlsson.
The 32 year-old is absolutely on fire this year with 28 points (11G – 17A) in 19 games. That’s tops for all defenseman in the NHL and he’s also tied for second overall in scoring, just 4 points behind Connor McDavid.
While the Blueshirts have to keep an eye on Karlsson, they need to force the issue in San Jose. This season, the Sharks are just 1-6-3 at home and if the Rangers can take a lead early it could go a long way for a victory.
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–Field Level Media contributed to this article
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