SHARKS TAKE A HUGE BITE OUT OF SLUMPING RANGERS 

 Game Summary                           SJS: M. Jones (W)  NYR: H. Lundqvist (L)               Event Summary

SHOOTING GALLERY – The Rangers registered 34 shots on goal in tonight’s game, as 14 of 18 skaters recorded at least one shot on goal in the contest. New York has registered at least 30 shots on goal in six of the last seven games and in eight of 10 games in 2017-18.

KILL ZONE – The Rangers were 1-for-1 (2:00) on the penalty kill in tonight’s contest. The Blueshirts have not allowed a power-play goal against in each of the last two games (6-for-6 on the penalty kill over the span).

HOT AT THE DOT – The Blueshirts won 30 of 55 faceoffs in tonight’s contest (54.5%), and six of the seven skaters who took at least one faceoff posted a faceoff win percentage of 50.0% or better.

HITTING MACHINE – New York was credited with 12 hits in tonight’s game and leads the NHL in hits this season (239).

Mika Zibanejad tallied a goal, led all skaters with six shots on goal, tied for the game-high with four hits, and won eight of 14 faceoffs (57.1%). He has registered a goal/point in five of 10 games this season, and he leads the Rangers in goals in 2017-18 (six).

Pavel Buchnevich recorded an assist, tied a single-game career-high with five shots on goal, and posted a plus-one rating. He has tallied a point in four of the last eight games (one goal, three assists) and in five of 10 games this season (one goal, four assists).

Kevin Shattenkirk skated in his 500th career NHL game in tonight’s contest.

Marc Staal skated in his 699th career game as a Ranger in tonight’s contest, passing Mark Messier and Steve Vickers for sole possession of 12th place on the franchise’s all-time games played list. In addition, Staal passed Vickers for the second-most career games a Rangers’ first-round pick has played with the Blueshirts in franchise history (Note: The NHL Amateur/Entry Draft began in 1963). The only Rangers’ first-round draft pick who has played in more career games with the Blueshirts than Staal has is Brian Leetch (1,129).

• Alain Vigneault, New York Rangers head coach

On tonight’s game…

“We gave up that first goal on a deflection from us. Unfortunately, the second one is one I’m sure Hank would like to have back. At the end of the night, we ended up with close to 20 scoring chances, and all we get is one goal. It’s not one guy, as a group we have to be better. We’re ten games in here, and we’re 2-6-2. Everyone in that room has got to be better than they are right now.”

On whether this group of players can turn it around…

“This personnel is good. We’ve just got to play the right way. Unfortunately, right now in the ten games, we’ve gotten behind, and we’ve gotten behind early. Right now, our inability to find the back of the net is hurting us, but there is definitely skill and talent in that room. We had plenty of good opportunities tonight. Obviously, you have to give credit to their goaltender and the group in front of him. When you get close to 20 scoring chances, you should be able to score more than one goal.”

On the inability to convert on six power plays…

“That was definitely a big part of it. I liked our power play in the first period. It was moving the puck, we got some opportunities, their guys came up with some big plays, but then you get behind, and then in the second period our execution, especially on the breakouts, went away. It was not nearly good enough.”                 

• Peter DeBoer, San Jose Sharks head coach 

On stick-check penalty issues tonight …

“That’s the first time that it’s really bitten us hard. I think you’ve got to look in the mirror. I think most of them [penalties] were legitimate, according to what they say they are calling around the league. So we’ve got to do a better job. You can’t come into a building and take six or seven minors and expect to win. We got fortunate that our goalie was as good as he was tonight and our PK was good. We feel fortunate.”

On the improved penalty kill…

“We spent a lot of time on it in the summer. Dave Barr and Rob Zettler came in and we did a lot of discussing about what we want to do. We made some structural changes to it. And then it’s mindset and getting the job done. Your goalie is always your best penalty killer and he’s [Martin Jones] been great lately.” 

• Ryan McDonagh, New York Rangers defenseman 

On the frustration of starting the game in a deficit…

“Yeah, especially when we were generating some looks, we had an early power play, had some momentum going and that’s really what we’ve got to focus on.  When we have those momentum shifts in our favor we’re trying to take advantage of them.  It’s a huge swing there obviously with the early power play, getting some looks and then not ultimately capitalizing on them and them coming back and putting one in our net there.  But we had the puck on our stick a lot tonight and I think that’s what’s frustrating.  We kept jamming ourselves through the neutral zone a lot and the power play, especially those amount of opportunities.  We’ve got to generate more looks than the few that we did.” 

On the San Jose penalty kill…

“They’re one of the top killing units in the league.  We talked about it beforehand, them making a good stand on the blue line and at some point there I think we should’ve just tried to get simple and put some rims behind them.  Try to win some battles there because trying to carry the puck over the blue line wasn’t working and they did a good job, credit them.  That’s a good penalty killing unit but at the end of the day we’ve got to find a way to get adjustments and get something out of it.”

On the team’s disappointing play tonight after Saturday’s win…

“It’s just frustrating mentally.  We had the puck a lot tonight, a lot in the O-zone, a lot of moving parts, guys moving around but at some point there you’ve got to just throw some pucks towards the net.  Throw some bad angle shots, you never know what can happen, what can it hit and just kind of create some chaos a little bit.  We’ve talked about creating chaos by moving but at the same time you can put a simple shot on net and a rebound and get guys out of position that way too.  We probably should’ve thrown more pucks at them from bad angles.  They did a good job keeping us to the perimeter but at the same time you’ve got to put something on the inside there.”

• Henrik Lundqvist, New York Rangers goaltender 

On what happened on the third goal and tonight’s game…

“I just got stuck on my foot there and twisted my leg a little bit. That’s the least of my concern right now. It was just a game where too many bad things happened, I guess. It started off there with a deflection there on our own guy and that kind of set the tone for this game. I made a bad read on the second goal and the third. We battled real hard and they scored that late one to kind of take the momentum away from us. They played smart, but in the end, that mistake I make on the second goal is something I obviously I have to do a lot better (on). I get caught ahead of the play, analyzing what’s going to happen after he puts it in front.”

On the start of tonight’s game…

“When we’re in the position we’re in – when we start the game chasing – it’s just so much harder. We’re trying to come out prepared and it’s a nothing play really, it’s a shot but it hits our guy and it’s in, and after that, it’s uphill. There’s no question about it. If we were 5-1 it might’ve been a little different, but right now we’re looking for a good feeling and to start the game chasing it’s not easy. We showed last game where we have the lead it’s a different type of game where we don’t have to force anything. It still felt like we tried really hard and created some pretty good looks here throughout the game, but we’re not in a place where we want to be, obviously, but we just have to keep working here and try to turn things around. I think last game we did a lot of good things and today was a lot of good things, too, but the start set the tone.”

• Rick Nash, New York Rangers forward 

On the team’s frustration level…

“It’s high. It’s been going on way longer than we wanted it to. It’s tough right now. You could say all the clichés you want. We have to stick together and keep it simple. At the end of the day, we have to give ourselves a chance to win the games.”

On what needs to change…

“It’s the same thing that we keep saying, just keeping it simple, getting in shot lanes, helping (Henrik Lundqvist) out. We shoot ourselves in the foot and put ourselves in a hole, and it’s been going on for 10 games.”

On whether the team’s start is surprising…

“Yeah, it is. We talked about this after game 5, game 6, you expect it to get going. We had it for one game. Tonight was a huge game for us to have a response and we didn’t have it.”

• Martin Jones, San Jose Sharks goaltender 

On the penalty kill …

“We don’t want to take that many penalties but on the plus side, our penalty kill was outstanding again.  Not a habit we want to get into but the penalty kill was great.” 

On the team’s play tonight…

“Just a couple of turnovers here and there.  We’re playing really well I thought 5-on-5 and then it’s just bad turnovers that we can have easily eliminated from our game.  I don’t think its big change, I think it’s just a couple little mistakes here and there we can clean up.”

• Joe Pavelski, San Jose Sharks forward 

On the penalty kill…

“It was huge.  A couple of them are penalties, a couple of them sometimes they are, sometimes they’re not.  What are you going to do when they are piling up on you?  It makes them tough, but it didn’t really matter how they came.  The killers went out and executed.  They were aggressive and stayed fresh all night and Joner (Martin Jones) made the big saves when needed.” 

On the goaltending of Martin Jones…

“It’s so important because you can hold teams and do a pretty good job getting shot blocks and clears, but you kill eight to nine penalties and there is going to be some breakdowns at some point.  Someone had to make a play and he made some big saves which really keeps the momentum going on our side.”

–       Tomorrow (Tuesday, Oct. 24): TBD

–       Wednesday, Oct. 25: Practice, 11:00 a.m. at MSG Training Center

–       Next Game: Thur, Oct. 26 vs. Arizona (7:00 p.m. ET – TV: MSG Network)

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