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Rangers vs Sharks: Panarin, Zibanejad Lead Rangers Past Sharks with Four Third Period Goals

Following an underwhelming performance on Tuesday in Los Angeles, the New York Rangers rebounded their evening with a huge 6-3 win over the San Jose Sharks. Artemi Panarin picked up his first hat trick as a Blueshirt and he, along with Mika Zibanejad, added four goals in the third period for New York. Alexandar Georgiev had a relatively quiet night compared to his previous starts and turned away 15 of the 18 shots he faced this evening.

1st Period

Tomas Hertl (11) SHG - Unassisted - 9:13 1st Period

Despite a rather successful power play in the puck moving department, the Rangers wound up surrendering a shorthanded goal just nine minutes into the game. Jacob Trouba attempted to read the bounce off of the end boards, and wound up getting caught too deep in the zone. The puck redirected right to Tomas Hertl exiting the zone, and sniped home his 11th of the season on the 2-on-1 rush into the zone.

2nd Period

Jesper Fast (5) - Filip Chytil (3) & Greg McKegg (2) - 5:02 2nd Period

New York finally found the tying goal early in the second period, and it sure was one for the highlight reel. Filip Chytil made an excellent move entering the zone and danced around Dylan Gambrell with a fancy behind-the-back move to create some space. As Chytil went behind the net, he fed the puck out to the front of the net and put the puck right on Jesper Fast’s tape. Fast immediately let a shot go and beat Martin Jones over the shoulder to make it a 1-1 game.

Artemiy Panarin (16) - Ryan Strome (21) & Brady Skjei (8) - 7:56 2nd Period

A little under three minutes later, the Rangers took their first lead of the night with Artemiy Panarin registering his team-leading 16th goal of the season. Panarin somehow slipped behind the Sharks coverage in the  offensive zone, and found himself wide open on the far post with not a single defender in sight. Ryan Strome eventually found Panarin with a great feed and the Breadman slipped the puck five-hole on Martin Jones.

Logan Couture (10) - Timo Meier (11) - 11:32 2nd Period

Unfortunately for the Rangers, all their hard work in the second period came crashing back down to earth with a single misplay in their own end. Jacob Trouba wound up throwing a pass back into traffic behind his own net, and Timo Meier picked off the pass cleanly. Meier immediately fed the puck out to Logan Couture in front of the net and he slipped the puck past Alexandar Georgiev to knot up the game at two.

3rd Period

Brenden Dillon (1) - Kevin Labanc (11) & Joe Thornton (11) - 4:12 3rd Period

Early in the third period, another lapse in coverage by the Rangers ended up in the back of their net and they suddenly found themselves down by a goal. A great outlet pass by Joe Thornton caught the Rangers during a chance and the Sharks were able to break into the zone with an odd-man chance. Brendan Dillon eventually collected the puck, but instead of having a man step to the play, the Rangers all backed up and allowed a wide open shot. Dillon absolutely wired a slap shot past Georgiev and San Jose had their second lead of the evening.

Mika Zibanejad (8) PPG - Tony DeAngelo (15) & Artemiy Panarin (23) - 8:49 3rd Period

Thankfully, it didn’t take the Rangers very long to respond and Mika Zibanejad tied up the game with a power play goal a few moments later. Chris Kreider did an excellent job of providing the perfect screen in front of Martin Jones, and he never caught a glimpse of the puck as it came in on net.

Mika Zibanejad (9) - Chris Kreider (9) & Jesper Fast (7) - 13:10 3rd Period

Mika Zibanejad continued his strong period and added yet another goal at the 13:10 mark to give the Rangers a crucial one-goal lead late in the game. Similar to his previous goal, Zibanejad let a high wrist shot go through a partial screen and somehow fooled Martin Jones over the shoulder for his second of the night.

Artemiy Panarin (17) - Filip Chytil (4) & Chris Kreider (10) - 16:49 3rd Period

Following Mika Zibanejad’s offensive outburst, Artemiy Panarin followed suit with his second goal of the night from just above the goal line. Martin Jones’ night quickly unraveled in the crease and Panarin caught him leaning off of the post yet again. There wasn’t much space to put the puck, but Panarin found enough of a gap and gave the Rangers a two-goal lead with under four minutes to play.

Artemiy Panarin (18) ENG - Unassisted - 17:36 3rd Period

Artemiy Panarin capped off the night with one final empty net goal and picked up his first hat trick as a Ranger. Panarin made a great play in the defensive zone to create the chance and sealed the game for the Rangers.

Overall, tonight was a solid effort by the Rangers and they continued to stick with it when San Jose scored two consecutive goals. The Rangers top played broke the game wide open in the third period, and they were able to collect their second win of the road trip. Following tonight’s win, the Rangers will have Friday off before returning to action on Saturday afternoon against the Anaheim Ducks.

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