Sharks End Rangers' 7-Game Win Streak; Defeat New York 7-3

The New York Rangers continued their homestand against the San Jose Sharks in the middle of their best start since the 1983-1984 season, winning 7 in a row to start the season off 7-1-0. The Sharks came in in the middle of their longest road trip of the season with a big problem: they had only scored the first goal of the game in 1 of their first 7 games of the season. But what looked like the beginning of a blowout for the Rangers quickly turned the other way around, as San Jose scored 6 unanswered goals to rally from a 2 goal deficit and defeat New York 7-3.

In the first 10 minutes of the game, New York outshot San Jose 7-1. It was also no surprise that they scored the first two goals of the game. After a Joe Thornton turnover from the neutral zone in an attempted pass back to his defenseman, Sean Avery intercepted and set up a Marc Staal shot that was deflected by Chris Drury in front to give New York the 1-0 lead. A little over a minute later, the Rangers had their first power play of the game and capitalized, as Michael Del Zotto pinched in from the point to slap home a rebound from the top of the left circle to make it a 2-0 lead. Then, the San Jose Sharks woke up.
Brad Staubitz created a turnover off the boards and skated into the Rangers' zone alone, and hammered a hard shot from the top of the faceoff circle to beat Stephen Valiquette below the glove to bring the Sharks back within 1. Then, with 15 seconds left on the power play, Dany Heatley powered through 2 defenders, kicked the puck back to his stick, and backhanded it over the shoulder of Valiquette to tie the game 2-2 at the end of the first.
The former New York Ranger Jed Ortemeyer continued the scoring early in the second period, as he crashed the net and shoved home a loose puck 1:19 into the second frame. The effectiveness of the strategy employed by the San Jose third line seemed to wake up the regular scorers of San Jose, as on the ensuing power play, Devin Setoguchi found a loose puck in front of the crease and was rewarded for crashing the net with his 6th goal of the season to make it a 4-2 lead. Although the Sharks did not score on 2 other power plays in the period, it helped them sustain the offensive momentum, and with a little over 2 minutes to go in the period, Patrick Marleau won a battle in the neutral zone to create a 2 on 1, and fed Devin Setoguchi for his second goal of the game to extend the lead to a 3 goal margin.
Valiquette was pulled in the intermission, and Henrik Lundqvist played for the final 20 minutes. But a goal was generated on the first shot he faced, as Heatley shot the puck hard off Lundqvist, who lost sight of the puck, and a crashing Ryan Vesce barely nudged the puck inside of the left post to make it 6 straight for the Sharks. With 3 minutes left, the Rangers tried to save face, as an Avery pass off the boards bounced right into the left faceoff circle, where Enver Lisin hammered a slap shot between Evgeni Nabokov's pads to make it 6-3. But a minute later, Jason Demers had a give and go with Marleau, and the ex-captain of the Sharks cleanly beat Lundqvist from the top of the goalie crease to end the onslaught at 7-3.

San Jose continued their streak of power play goals allowed, as the Rangers converted on 1 of 3 attempts. The Sharks converted 2 of 7, with the final power play in the last minute of the period with the fourth line on for the entirety of it. Before this game, the Rangers had not allowed more than 3 goals in any of their games played in the young season. Vesce, who grew up a Ranger fan and netted his first NHL goal against the Islanders 2 days ago, scored a goal against his favorite team in front of his family and friends. The Sharks dominated the faceoff circle, winning 33 of 53 draws. Valiquette ended the night with 13 saves on 18 shots, while Lundqvist fared a little better, stopping 10 of 12. Marian Gaborik was held scoreless for the first time this season, ending the night with a -1 rating, 3 shots on goal, and 2 penalty minutes. San Jose will play the 4th of their 6 game road trip at Tampa Bay on Thursday.