Rangers 3 - 1 Sharks
Final
  for this game

Rangers end impressive California trip with win over Sharks

Jan 11, 2015 - 7:08 AM San Jose, CA (SportsNetwork.com) - Chris Kreider tallied a goal and an assist as the New York Rangers capped a successful California road trip with a 3-1 victory over the San Jose Sharks on Saturday.

Martin St. Louis and Rick Nash also lit the lamp, Derek Stepan supplied two assists and Henrik Lundqvist made 30 saves for the Rangers, who started the trip out with a 4-1 win over Anaheim on Wednesday and topped the Kings 4-3 in a Stanley Cup rematch on Thursday.

"It was exciting and intense," Lundqvist said. "We found a way to win this one and we battled really hard. We wanted to finish off strong here on this road trip."

New York has won five straight games and 13 of its last 14 games. It is the team's best 14-game stretch since Jan. 7 to Feb. 10, 1973 (14-0-1).

Melker Karlsson supplied San Jose's lone marker to extend his goal streak to five games and Antti Niemi allowed two goals on 31 shots in defeat.

The Rangers opened the scoring at 10:40 of the first period. Kreider swatted the puck to St. Louis off a faceoff at the left circle and St. Louis beat Niemi with a quick snap shot.

"Two mistakes on the faceoff coverage in our end," Sharks head coach Todd McLellan said. "Actually, we win one faceoff and lose one and it's the difference at the end of the night."

Kreider got on the board less than five minutes later as he tapped home the rebound of Dan Girardi's shot from the right circle for a 2-0 lead.

Neither team lit the lamp in the middle stanza as the Rangers outshot the Sharks 11-9 in the frame.

Less than five minutes into the third, Niemi extended his arm to deny Mats Zucarello at the goal line. The play was reviewed to determine if the puck crossed the line, but after a prolonged look at the play, it was ruled that there was inconclusive evidence to overturn the call.

Lundqvist fought off James Sheppard's shot with a shoulder stop, but Karlsson was there to deposit the rebound for a power-play goal, making it a 2-1 game with 12:46 to play.

The Sharks pulled Niemi with over a minute to play, and Nash stick handled through a maze of San Jose players for the game-sealing goal.

Game Notes

Nash tied Dallas' Tyler Seguin for the league-lead in goals with 26 ... Lundqvist improved to 11-1-0 over his last 12 games between the pipes ... Rangers defenseman Dan Boyle played against the Sharks for the first time he signed with New York during the offseason. Boyle spent his previous six seasons with the Sharks ... Prior to the game, the Sharks activated forward Joe Thornton from injured reserve and placed defenseman Mirco Mueller on IR.






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