The San Jose Sharks continued to find some offense away from home on Sunday but simply could not slow down the New York Rangers, or more specifically, forward Artemi Panarin.
Panarin scored at the 4:41 mark of the third period to complete a hat trick as he and the Rangers held on for a 6-5 win over the Sharks at Madison Square Garden, dropping San Jose’s record on their season-long six-game road trip to 1-2-0.
The Sharks trailed 4-3 early in the third period when Jonny Brodzinski put a shot on net that goalie Mackenzie Blackwood couldn’t handle. Panarin then swooped in and chipped the loose puck past Blackwood for his third goal of the game and 15th of the season.
K’Andre Miller scored at the 13:04 mark to give the Rangers a 6-3 lead. Blackwood stopped 30 of 36 shots for the game but didn’t always get the needed support from his teammates, particularly in front of San Jose’s net.
Panarin’s third goal, for instance, came shortly after Fabian Zetterlund had the puck knocked off his stick just outside of the Sharks’ blue line.
“Turnovers,” Sharks coach David Quinn said. “You’ve got a puck on your stick and critical areas and we just made poor decisions.”
Anthony Duclair, Ryan Carpenter, Jacob MacDonald, Zetterlund, and Alexander Barabanov all scored for the Sharks (6-17-2), who were coming off a 6-3 win over the New Jersey Devils on Friday. That total matched the number of goals the Sharks had in their first 10 road games of the season when they were outscored 42-6.
With the Sharks trailing by three, Zetterlund and Barabanov scored goals 1:12 apart to cut the Rangers’ lead to 6-5 with 4:10 left. But San Jose couldn’t find the equalizer as it fell to 1-11-0 on the road.
The Sharks are now 0-15-0 when trailing after two periods, although they are responding to adversity better now than in the first month of the season.
“Since I’ve been here, that’s been the biggest thing for us, is hard work and we don’t quit,” said defenseman Calen Addison, who now has five assists in 13 games with the Sharks since Nov. 9. “That’s the only non-negotiable and that starts with (Quinn). He says that every day.”
The Sharks announced before the game that both forward Nico Sturm and defenseman Ty Emberson would be unavailable with lower body injuries. Quinn said he found out about both players’ maladies after the team’s morning skate and did not know if either one would have to miss more time. The Sharks’ road trip continues Tuesday at UBS Arena against the New York Islanders.
“Just the way we stuck with it throughout the 60 minutes says an awful lot about our group,” Quinn said. “Frustrating because we felt like we gave him a few gifts there in the third period. But our mental toughness and our resolve make you feel good.”
The Sharks trailed 3-2 after the first period. Duclair’s goal, on a breakaway after a pass from Kyle Burroughs, was his sixth of the season and third in two games and came at the 3:50 mark of the first period. Carpenter’s goal, his first in the NHL in over a calendar year, gave the Sharks a 2-1 lead at the 12:21 mark.
Panarin scored twice in the first 20 minutes, with his second goal at the 12:55 mark tying the game 2-2. Mika Zibanejad then gave the Rangers the lead, as he took a pass from Chris Kreider from behind the net and beat Blackwood for his sixth of the season.
Will Cuylle also scored for New York (18-4-1), splitting the Sharks defense and beating Blackwood at the 16:03 mark of the second period for a 5-3 lead.
“The defenseman (Nikita Okhotiuk) can’t be outside the dots like that,” Quinn said. “So it’s also on F3 (William Eklund) not finishing his track.”
The Sharks activated Barabanov and defenseman Jan Rutta off injured reserve before Sunday’s game. Barabanov hadn’t played since Oct. 24 when he was hit by a shot and suffered a broken finger in a game against the Florida Panthers, and he started Sunday’s game on a line with Tomas Hertl and Eklund.
Rutta, injured in the Sharks’ Nov. 22 game with the Seattle Kraken, was paired with Nikita Okhotiuk. To make room for Barabanov and Rutta on the 23-man roster, the Sharks on Saturday placed forward Luke Kunin on IR with an upper-body ailment and waived defenseman Nikolai Knyzhov.
Kunin did not play Friday with what was described as an upper-body injury. He will be re-evaluated in a week, per Quinn, but it remains unclear when he might return.
The Sharks road trip wraps up later this week with games against the Detroit Red Wings on Dec. 7 and the Vegas Golden Knights on Dec. 10.
NOTE: Knyzhov cleared waivers Sunday and was assigned to the Barracuda of the AHL. Knyzhov, listed at 6-foot-3 and 222 pounds, signed a two-year, $2.5 million contract extension with the Sharks in March. He was originally signed by San Jose as a free agent on July 2, 2019, following his participation in the team’s prospect development camp.
Source: www.mercurynews.com