The Rangers used a three-goal second period to defeat the San Jose Sharks, 3-2, on Thursday night at Madison Square Garden.

Here are some takeaways...

- Peter Laviolette switching back to the regular lines couldn’t get the Rangers in sync early in this one as they allowed San Jose to get on the board just three minutes into the contest on a deflected Timothy Liljegren shot from the point and were overall outplayed in the first period.

- New York was finally able to break through midway through the second period, though, as Mika Zibanejad pounced on a juicy rebound to even things up. It was certainly a much-needed goal for the center, who opened up to reporters about his early-season struggles this week. Adam Fox picked up the assist on the play, giving him helpers in three straight games.

- Minutes later, the fourth line kept the momentum going, as Jimmy Vesey followed up a deflected pass of his own and fired it home on the backhand to give the Rangers the lead. The scrappy winger now has two goals on the season, but of which have come over his last three games.

- And finally, we saw the connection that was on display so often last season, as Artemi Panarin took advantage of time and space before connecting with a cutting Vincent Trocheck, who deflected home a picture-perfect pass for his fourth goal of the season. Panarin now has a nine-game home point streak going and he's found his way onto the scorers' sheet in 14 of the team's 15 games this season.

- Barclay Goodrow had a bit of an ugly exit from the team this offseason, but he received a nice hand from the MSG crowd in his return. The veteran was bumped up to San Jose’s top line but he didn’t make much of an impact, finishing as a -2 and missing on three separate scoring opportunities, two of which were in the third period.

- Igor Shesterkin wasn't tested much by a young San Jose team that doesn't generate many shots on net, but he made some big-time saves down the stretch in the third period to finish with 24 and take home his seventh win of the season.

- The only cause for concern for New York in this one was Filip Chytil, who was ruled out for the remainder of the game with an upper-body injury after taking a friendly-fire elbow to the chest from teammate K'Andre Miller on a tough open-ice collision midway through the second period.

Game MVP: Mika Zibanejad

You know it had to feel good for Zibanejad to finally be able to come through for the team after battling his way through an extremely tough start to the season.

Here are some takeaways...

Game MVP: Mika Zibanejad

Highlights

Popular in the Community