A BACKDOOR CLINCH
Ranger fall to Sharks in overtime - but gain sole point needed to return to postseason
SAN JOSE, Calif. — And so the Rangers are going dancing again.
For the seventh straight season and 11th in the 12 of the hard-cap era, the Blueshirts are going to the playoffs by virtue of the point they gained in Tuesday night’s 5-4 overtime loss to the Sharks. The Rangers overcame a late second-period 3-1 deficit to take an early third-period 4-3 lead before the Sharks tied it with 2:15 remaining in regulation .
Though the Rangers were outplayed decisively through nearly all of the second period, they turned it around on a dime, with the rally beginning when Derek Stepan, dormant for so long, scored on the power play at 19:37 of the second period for his third goal in three games.
Jesper Fast tied it at 1:24 of the third period with an artful deflection of a Brady Skjei drive and then J.T. Miller, bumped to the fourth line after a particularly sub-par game in Anaheim on Sunday, got his second of the night at 4:44, this one with a 4-on-3 man-advantage. But Chris Tierney tied it from in front with his second of the night after (another) Rangers turnover to send it in overtime, where Brent Burns scored on the power play for the Sharks.
The Rangers, Sharks, Penguins and Red Wings (whose 25-year playoff streak ended this season) are the only four teams in the NHL to miss only once since 2005-06.
So now the Rangers, who haven’t played especially well in going 6-7-3 since Feb. 26, can use their final five games to zone in on what is essentially guaranteed to be a crossover first-round against either the Canadiens or Senators.
Coach Alain Vigneault was asked before the match if he would use those games to nail down his defensive pairings. The coach started Brady Skjei on the right Tuesday with Marc Staal while Dan Girardi rejoined the lineup on Ryan McDonagh’s right in place of Kevin Klein and Brendan Smith was paired with Nick Holden.
By the second period, though, Skjei was back on the left with Smith while the coach reunited Staal and Holden.
“I think I’m going to work on that but at the same time try to balance the fact that we have nine defensemen,” Vigneault said. “I might take some of those last games to make sure the extra D’s— just like the extra forwards—play at least one to make sure that they get some game situations.
“There’s that balancing act between getting your lines together, getting your D pairs together, getting healthy and making sure certain guys get a little bit of playing time also.”
Vigneault said he would not intend to rest play-
ers simply to get them a night or two off in advance of what the club hopes is a two-month grind through the Stanley Cup final.
“I would say ‘rest’ is a big word. If somebody has been playing through a nagging injury, I might situation permits give him some down time,” the coach said. “But I’m not a big fan of resting guys. I think you keep playing, you keep your tempo, you keep your momentum.”
The Rangers had generated no momentum over the past month. And it sure didn’t seem as if they would be able to build off this one either deep into a second period that the Sharks dominated.
The game didn’t start well at all for the Rangers, who had trouble right out of the gate in their own end. And when Jimmy Vesey’s illadvised, neutral zone attempted backhand pass through traffic was picked off, the Sharks were on their way to a 1-0 lead at 1:44 when Jannik Hansen jammed it in off a scramble in front after he had beaten Mika Zibanejad in a one-on-one battle behind the net.
The Rangers did settle down and were able to tie the score when Miller blasted a right wing drive past Martin Jones at 13:30 after Matt Puempel, inserted into the lineup for Pavel Buchnevich following eight straight healthy scratches, was able to keep play alive along the boards.
But the Sharks — who had lost six straight in regulation by an aggregate 23-7 score — regained the lead at 18:01 when Melker Karlsson scored off a shorthanded two-on-one to beat Lundqvist on a 35-foot wrist shot. It was the second consecutive game in which the Blueshirts had allowed a shorthanded goal after surrendering a sum of three over their first 74 contests.