Sharks at Rangers
The New York Rangers ended a frustrating five-game losing streak last time out despite managing just 15 shots and look to build on the result as they host the San Jose Sharks on Monday. Jimmy Vesey, Chris Kreider and Jesper Fast each scored their first goal of the season in Saturday’s 4-2 victory over Nashville, which extended New York’s point streak to three contests (1-0-2).
“This was coming,” Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist told reporters after the victory. “It was just a matter of time. Finally, we get the two points. We’ll take a deep breath and we’ll go after another two points Monday.” New York looks to take advantage of the road-weary Sharks, who will play their third game in four nights after dropping a 5-3 decision at the New York Islanders on Saturday despite receiving a hat trick from Logan Couture. San Jose, which started the trip with an impressive 3-0 win at red-hot New Jersey in which Martin Jones turned aside 28 shots, has outshot all but one opponent in the early going. Reigning Norris Trophy winner Brent Burns, who scored a career-high 29 goals last season, leads the Sharks in shots (31) but has yet to tally and is a minus-8 over his first seven contests.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, NHL Network, Sportsnet, NBCSN California (San Jose), MSG (New York)
ABOUT THE SHARKS (3-4-0): Couture leads the team with six goals after notching his second career hat trick and is forming a solid duo with Tomas Hertl (four points) on one of San Jose’s top two lines. “He’s big. He’s strong. He’s skilled,” Couture said of Hertl. “He reminds me of (Patrick Marleau) without that top-end speed the way he holds on to pucks. He’s very, very easy to play with.” The power play has produced seven goals in seven games, and the Sharks’ penalty-killing unit is 24-of-25 in the last six contests after giving up two tallies in the season opener.
ABOUT THE RANGERS (2-5-2): Getting Kreider and Vesey their first goals will help with confidence, and it also would be a boost if the veteran Rick Nash (one goal, minus-6 rating), who leads the team with 35 shots, could start scoring. Mika Zibanejad tops the team with five goals but has recorded just one point (an assist) in the last five games, while Kevin Hayes became the only other player with more than two tallies after scoring in each of his last two contests. Defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk, who has registered two goals and five assists, is slated to play his 500th NHL game on Monday.
OVERTIME
1. San Jose C Joe Thornton needs four assists to tie Joe Sakic (1,016) for 12th place on the all-time list and is three points away from 1,400.
2. Lundqvist needs one victory to pass Glenn Hall (407) for ninth place in NHL history.
3. The teams split last season's two-game series, with each winning at home while a total of 20 goals were scored.