Rangers vs. Sharks: Lineups, storylines, with 1 losing streak sure to end
Something must give Thursday night at Madison Square Garden, when the New York Rangers host the San Jose Sharks. Each team looks to shed an onerous losing streak, though only one will do so.
The Rangers (3-4-1) have lost their first four games at The Garden and are one of five NHL teams without a win on home ice. That list includes the Sharks (0-4-2), who have bigger issues since they are winless overall, the only team in the League not to secure a victory yet this season.
The Sharks’ struggles aren’t a big surprise. They’re in a serious rebuild, finished last in the NHL standings each of the past two seasons and have missed the playoffs six straight years.
It’s another story for the Rangers. Their inability to win at MSG runs counter to an impressive 3-0-1 start on the road. And their historic scoring woes on home ice — one goal in four games at The Garden totaling 240 minutes, and shut out three straight to begin the season? No one saw that coming.
Staring at a four-game road trip that gets underway Sunday in Calgary against the Flames, the Rangers desperately want to shed their losing ways on home ice. A loss Thursday means a winless first month of the season at home, since they don’t play at MSG again until Nov. 4.
So, considering the circumstances and the opposition, is this a must win for the Rangers?
“Of course we want to win,” coach Mike Sullivan said Wednesday following practice. “Do we want to be a harder team to play against at home? For sure. It’s the age old question: is this the biggest game of the year? And my answer to that has always been, ‘Yeah, it is, until the next one.’ So, yeah, we want to establish ourselves at home.”
Though they scored their first goal on home ice this season, the Rangers were largely outplayed in a 3-1 loss to the Minnesota Wild at The Garden on Monday. It was an extremely disappointing effort and result, considering their come-from-behind 4-3 road victory in Montreal against the Canadiens on Saturday. The latest loss left the Rangers win one win in their past five games overall (1-3-1).
“We have to bounce back. It’s a good opportunity for us to show up [Thursday] and have a good one,” forward Alexis Lafreniere said.
The Sharks come off a 4-3 loss to the Islanders on Tuesday, which began a three-game trip through New York and New Jersey. They’ve allowed four goals or more in five of six games this season, and have the worst team goals-against average in the League (4.83).
In their past 13 games against the Sharks, the Rangers are 11-0-2, including 6-0-1 at Madison Square Garden. Last season, the Rangers edged the Sharks 3-2 at home on Nov. 14 and won 6-1 in San Jose on March 29.
3 storylines when Rangers host Sharks
1. Rangers eye ‘next step’ for power-play success
The Rangers are 3-for-20 on the power play and have scored just once in the past five games with the man advantage. They’re 26th in the League, converting at 15.0 percent, and spent much of practice Wednesday working on the power play.
The eye test tells you that the Rangers have had some serious Grade-A chances on the power play this season — including Monday, when Mika Zibanejad and J.T. Miller failed to convert on prime opportunities.
“First of all, they’ve had a lot of zone time, so that’s a positive thing that their spending a significant amount of time in the offensive zone,” Sullivan explained. “It gives them some opportunity to have some success … and they’ve generated a fair amount of scoring chances. The next step is we have to put it into the net.”
Outside of, you know, actually scoring, what can the Rangers do better on the power play, starting Thursday against a Sharks penalty kill that’s allowed six goals on 19 times short-handed?
“Little things, having more of a net presence, taking the goalie’s sightlines away, I think we sometimes pass up shots when we can sift pucks,” Sullivan stated. “I think we can have even more of a shooting mentality, but it goes hand in hand with having a net front [presence].”
2. Clean it up in front of Igor Shesterkin
There’s no doubt that Igor Shesterkin is off to an incredible start this season. His record may say he’s 2-3-1 in six starts, but the Rangers No. 1 goalie really has been nothing short of brilliant. Shesterkin has allowed two goals or fewer in each start, has a 1.17 GAA, and .957 save percentage.
But Sullivan’s pleased with how the Rangers are playing in front of Shesterkin and Jonathan Quick, too.
“I think our guys have defended hard, they’re buying in. To a certain extent we’ve limited shot quality, shot quantity,” the coach explained. “I think we’ve done a very good job at is the second-chance opportunities. If we have the ability to eliminate those or mitigate those, more often than not ‘Shesty’ or ‘Quickie’ are going to make the initial save, even if it’s a high-quality look. It’s those next plays that are difficult, and I think our guys have done a good job being committed there.”
The Sharks are not an overly skilled team, so their best chance to score will likely come from dirty goals and outworking the Rangers, similar to what the Wild did Monday. It’s an area the Rangers must clean up in five-man groups against the Sharks.
3. Baby Sharks provide reason to hope for brighter future
Being stuck in the middle of a rebuild stinks. No two ways about it. And that’s where the Sharks find themselves, still, with little hope of landing a layoff berth this season.
However, there is plenty of reason to believe a brighter future is on its way for the Sharks. Look no further than Macklin Celebrini, the 19-year-old center and No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 NHL Draft. Celebrini scored 25 goals and finished with 63 points in 70 games as a rookie last season. Many believe he’s the next great budding superstar in this league. He’s averaging more than 20 minutes TOI this season, and leads the Sharks with six points (two goals, four assists).
Then there’s Michael Misa, the 18-year-old forward who was the No. 2 overall pick in this year’s draft. He picked up his first NHL point in his third game, Tuesday against the Islanders, and is also expected to be a star in the very near future. Then there’s Will Smith, William Eklund, and Collin Graf, a trio of highly-skilled young forwards. And many believe that — despite a rough start this season — Yaroslav Askarov is among the best young goalies emerging in the NHL.
“They’re a dangerous team with some of the young skill that they have,” Sullivan said after the morning skate. “I think they have a quick-strike capability to their game.”
Patience and proper development are key. But the future doesn’t appear nearly as dark in San Jose as the recent past, or even the present.
New York Rangers projected lineup
Artemi Panarin — Mika Zibanejad — Will Cuylle
Alexis Lafreniere — J.T. Miller — Conor Sheary
Juuso Parssinen — Noah Laba– Taylor Raddysh
Adam Edstrom — Sam Carrick — Matt Rempe
Vladislav Gavrikov — Adam Fox
Matthew Robertson — Will Borgen
Carson Soucy — Braden Schneider
Igor Shesterkin
Jonathan Quick
Rangers vs. Sharks: When, where, what time, how to watch
Who: New York Rangers vs. San Jose Sharks
When: Thursday Oct. 23 at 7 p.m. ET
Where: Madison Square Garden
How to watch: MSG
More About: New York Rangers News
