San Jose, CA (SportsNetwork.com) – Chris Kreider tallied a goal and an assist
as the New York Rangers capped a successful California road trip with a 3-1
victory over the San Jose Sharks on Saturday.
Martin St. Louis and Rick Nash also lit the lamp, Derek Stepan supplied two
assists and Henrik Lundqvist made 30 saves for the Rangers, who started the
trip out with a 4-1 win over Anaheim on Wednesday and topped the Kings 4-3 in
a Stanley Cup rematch on Thursday.
New York has won five straight games and 13 of its last 14 games.
Melker Karlsson supplied San Jose’s lone marker to extend his goal streak to
five games and Antti Niemi allowed two goals on 31 shots in defeat.
The Rangers opened the scoring at 10:40 of the first period. Kreider swatted
the puck to St. Louis off a faceoff at the left circle and St. Louis beat
Niemi with a quick snap shot.
Kreider got on the board less than five minutes later as he tapped home the
rebound of Dan Girardi’s shot from the right circle for a 2-0 lead.
Neither team lit the lamp in the middle stanza as the Rangers outshot the
Sharks 11-9 in the frame.
Less than five minutes into the third, Niemi extended his arm to deny Mats
Zucarello at the goal line. The play was reviewed to determine if the puck
crossed the line, but after a prolonged look at the play, it was ruled that
there was inconclusive evidence to overturn the call.
Lundqvist fought off James Sheppard’s shot with a shoulder stop, but Karlsson
was there to deposit the rebound for a power-play goal, making it a 2-1 game
with 12:46 to play.
The Sharks pulled Niemi with over a minute to play, and Nash stick handled
through a maze of San Jose players for the game-sealing goal.
Game Notes
Nash tied Dallas’ Tyler Seguin for the league-lead in goals with 26 …
Lundqvist improved to 11-1-0 over his last 12 games between the pipes …
Rangers defenseman Dan Boyle played against the Sharks for the first time he
signed with New York during the offseason. Boyle spent his previous six
seasons with the Sharks … Prior to the game, the Sharks activated forward
Joe Thornton from injured reserve and placed defenseman Mirco Mueller on IR.
