Sharks Can’t Keep It Simple, Lose 3-2 to Rangers

NEW YORK — The San Jose Sharks visit Madison Square Garden to take on the New York Rangers.

Timothy Liljegren scored his first goal in teal, Fabian Zetterlund added another, but the Sharks lost 3-2.

Period 1

Top two lines off to a good start for San Jose Sharks. They’re starting on time. Rangers a step behind.

Liljegren goal: You get bounces when you’re on top of it. Liljegren point shot looks like it caroms off Vesey closing on him, past Shesterkin.

5 in: Will Smith took the puck from Panarin, nice work. Sharks off to a quick start.

Ferraro takes it from Kreider in the corner. Strong, decisive one-on-one defense. Like.

8 in: Tough shift for Toffoli. Blows two chances to clear. Bailed out by Blackwood glove. Thrun also made a nice play, cutback behind the net, got it to Toffoli before turnover.

Rutta can’t get to low-to-high pass to him, but he sacrifices his body to check Edstrom who got to it. Prevents counterattack. That’s smart.

9 in: Smith strong low to high pass, he’s had a good start.

San Jose Sharks off to decent start, but Rangers’ skill is percolating. Definitely want to take further advantage of a slow Rangers start, Sharks can be crisper with execution, a couple near-misses to good chances.

9 left: Sharks getting careless with puck high in OZ. Goodrow pass telegraphed, leads to odd-man the other way. Next two shifts, Sharks on their heels, they’re feeding Rangers’ rush with turnovers high in OZ.

4 left: Sharp Liljegren pass to Smith, like. Liked him more today than in Philly so far.

3 left: Like Sturm challenging Cuylle one-on-one in NZ. Pure battle win.

Grundstrom crossbar: Great read by Thompson, blocks a weak shot, leads the 3-on-2 up. Grundstrom snake-bitten.

Overall, felt like the San Jose Sharks left something on the table in this period, hope it doesn’t bite them. But you can’t be mad about a 1-0 first period road lead against a playoff-bound team. They played solid.

Period 2

Jones post: Little plays. Thompson under no duress coughs it up. Just execution, misses next pass close to him. Leads to Jones post.

We got four seconds of Smith and Celebrini together on power play…then Goodrow goes to the box. In Goodrow’s defense, maybe a good sell-job by Lindgren.

Wennberg-Smith-Celebrini-Granlund on 4-on-3 power play. Smith seams it to Granlund.

Eklund post: One-time laser. Haven’t seen enough of that from Eklund this year.

7 in: Kunin leading rush, like Sturm just legally picking one of the D, occupying the lane.

8 in: Pretty spin-o-rama by Eklund, but want a shot there, there were multiple Rangers in the slot to pounce on pass. Let him cook, I guess?

Strong shift from Celebrini line follows, Toffoli feeds Goodrow for a Grade-A. Goodrow wanted that, had Igor moving, good save.

10 left: Sturm muscles it into O-zone. Liked him tonight. But Kunin turns it over high, looking for pass to point, maybe he had a chance to just throw it on net, Grundstrom there too.

Zibanejad goal: Blackwood turnover, Sharks lose Mika in front.

8 left: San Jose Sharks have a 3-on-1 and don’t even get a shot. Disappointing, feel like Sharks skating with some purpose tonight, but looking for the perfect play, just get it on net sometimes.

Vesey goal: Toffoli did a good job keeping it alive in corner seconds ago, but again, high turnover by Celebrini, Rangers get out on rush. Sharks shouldn’t be down right now, but they’re not playing direct enough.

Disallowed goal: San Jose Sharks on rush, Ceci opts for the extra pass. This isn’t basketball, guys. Hopefully, this stroke of luck is a wake-up call.

5 left: Good shift by second line. Zetterlund, at his best, plays direct, like to see him take over and do that.

Trocheck goal: All that started with a Toffoli turnover on entry. Tough game for him. Turnover didn’t lead directly to goal, but New York controlled the puck from there, leading to another rush goal. Rangers are starting to have fun in this period, which is what the Sharks don’t want to them to have.

Sharks have skill, but their best team plays simple and direct with flashes of skill, I think. When a guy like Ceci, not blaming him, but symbolic, is lured into skilling it up, team is just not in a focused frame of mind. Like I said, I didn’t love what I saw in the first, and it got much, much worse.

Period 3

Per Sharks: Nico Sturm will not return to tonight’s game (upper body)

— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) November 15, 2024

Goodrow breakaway: Sharks needed that, but goes high.

4 in: Celebrini and Smith with Dellandrea on a 5-on-5 shift. Let’s have fun!

Can’t do that though. Celebrini careless with the puck, skating back for it in NZ, alligator arms a pass back to d-man, Rangers jump on it. Sharks have some soul-searching about how they want to play after Philly and this game. Sharks down just two, but they’re starting to show quit.

Second line shows a little pop here though. They could use more simple, but they’ve also been the most effective. Let’s see if this can get them going.

Celebrini and Wennberg have swapped lines.

8 in: Celebrini tracks back hard by Panarin. Good response, keep it up.

Then nice one-on-one move by Celebrini, off the post.

10 in: Nice Ceci pass to Zetterlund.

8 left: Nice puck battle win by Smith, love that. Doesn’t give up as Rangers try to exit. Then Celebrini finds Goodrow all alone, but no dice.

Zetterlund goal: Extra man, being down, almost helps Sharks keep it simple I think.