Rangers 4, Sharks 0
NEW YORK -- Coach Alain Vigneault had harsh words for his players on Sunday. Less than 24 hours later, the New York Rangers responded.
Goaltender Antti Raanta stopped 22 shots in his team debut as the Rangers beat the San Jose Sharks 4-0 at Madison Square Garden on Monday night to snap a three-game losing streak.
Defenseman Marc Staal, left winger Viktor Stalberg and right wingers Mats Zuccarello and Jesper Fast scored for the Rangers one day after losing at home to the New Jersey Devils and drawing the ire of Vigneault.
Sharks goaltender Martin Jones suffered his first loss of the season as he allowed four goals on 28 shots. The Sharks have dropped two straight after opening the season 4-0.
A snap shot by Staal gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead at 10:36 of the first period. He used a screen by Fast to get the puck past Jones for his first goal of the season.
After killing a Sharks 22-second, 5-on-3 power play, the Rangers capitalized on their first power play at 9:28 of the second period.
Zuccarello skated off the right-wing wall toward the middle of the ice. This time, it was left winger Rick Nash providing the screen as Zuccarello's shot bounced off the post, then off Jones' catching glove and into the net to make it 2-0 Rangers.
Fast registered his first goal of the season at 3:47 of the third period. He slipped behind the Sharks defense and, despite losing control of the puck, saw it slide under a sprawling Jones to extend the Rangers' lead to three goals.
Stalberg added insult the injury with his first goal as a Ranger. He cut to the middle after rushing the puck into the offensive zone and beat Jones between the legs to make it 4-0.
The Sharks were playing their third game in four nights. It marked the fourth time in five seasons that the Sharks paid a visit to MSG for a game that was their third in four nights.
The one season it didn't occur -- 2013 -- was during the shortened season in which there were zero inter-conference games.
NOTES: The Sharks placed C Logan Couture (broken fibula) on injured reserve to create space for C Bryan Lerg, who was recalled from the San Jose Barracuda of the AHL. Lerg made his season debut Monday. ... Sharks D Paul Martin (lower body), LW Ben Eager (ear laceration) and RW Joonas Donskoi (lower body) did not play. ... The Rangers made LW Tanner Glass, RW Emerson Etem and D Dylan McIlrath healthy scratches. ... Rangers coach Alain Vigneault said he expects G Henrik Lundqvist to be in net Thursday against the Arizona Coyotes.