Friday night’s game in San Jose was over in the first half of the first period for the New York Rangers, who, despite not allowing a goal past the eight-minute mark of the opening frame and conceding just 14 shots over the final 40 minutes, demonstrated why starting well is important.
The Sharks scored three times in the opening 7:37 to put the game out of reach, as the Rangers took a pair of costly penalties in the first 1:23, and stood around as San Jose’s young, fast forward corps snapped the puck around their zone.
“You can’t start a game like that,” said Rangers head coach Mike Sullivan. “Spot a team a couple goals, and then take seven penalties along the way and think you’re gonna give yourself the best chance to win. It’s just not a recipe for success.”
New York was swept on their three-game California road trip by the Sharks, Anaheim Ducks, and Los Angeles Kings. Friday’s loss was the Rangers’ eighth loss in their last nine games, a stretch that forced the club into sending out another letter from the front office outlining their intention to re-tool.
“Obviously weren’t quite ready to play,” said captain J.T. Miller. “You feel like you are, but they come out flying, and they draw two penalties. They capitalized, building was rocking. We just kind of beat ourselves.”
That the Rangers “beat themselves,” as Miller labelled it, can be boiled down to how the Sharks scored their goals.
Sharks phenom Macklin Celebrini opened the scoring 1:09 into the game on a power play that came off a Mika Zibanejad tripping minor. As San Jose cycled the puck around the Rangers’ offensive zone, Celebrini slid down from the flank to the net, where Tyler Toffoli hit him with a centering pass from down low. Miller, the closest Ranger to him, couldn’t pick him up.
Two minutes later, in the waning seconds of a Matthew Robertson delay of game penalty, the Rangers collapsed into the corner and left Pavol Regenda alone in the slot. Regenda had time to take the puck on his backhand and aim a shot over Spencer Martin’s blocker.
San Jose’s third goal, which came at even strength, may have been the most egregious defensive showing of the night. Carson Soucy turned the puck over in the Rangers’ end, and with the Rangers’ failing to pick up the Sharks’ attacking forwards, Celebrini, left wide open in the high slot, wired a shot past Martin’s glove.
“There’s no hiding that the start kills us, really,” Zibanejad said. “Even though we get that 3-1 goal, and we try to climb back, it’s just the constant [trying] to come back, trying to chase, you’re wasting a lot of energy on playing like that.”
Of all the reasons the Rangers’ season has cratered this month, their poor first-period play has cost them multiple nights. New York surrendered the opening goal 0:18 in against Los Angeles on Tuesday, and were down 4-0 by the first intermission against the Ottawa Senators on Jan. 14. When they do score first, they have too often watched their lead slip away.
Vincent Trocheck, who admitted after Friday’s loss that the Rangers’ poor starts “had become a bit of a theme lately,” put it simply: “We got to make sure that we’re ready to play when we get here.”
The Rangers return to Madison Square Garden on Monday to face the Bruins, who beat New York 10-2 in their last meeting on Jan. 10.
